Miami officers sue Matt Damon and Ben Affleck over ‘The Rip,' claiming it defamed them

Jonathan Santana and Jason Smith allege the actors’ portrayal of a real-life 2016 drug bust caused "substantial harm to their personal and professional reputations."

Two South Florida sheriff's deputies have filed a defamation lawsuit against Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, claiming the characters they played in the film "The Rip" was allegedly inspired by them, but the actors' falsely portrayed them as corrupt cops.

Jason Smith and Jonathan Santana, sergeants in the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, filed the lawsuit last week in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida against the stars' production company Artists Equity, as well as Falco Pictures, which was released by Netflix in January. Netflix is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit

Court filings don’t say how much the officers are suing for, but the civil complaint says they’re seeking compensatory damages, punitive damages and attorney fees, as well as a public retraction and correction.

In the film, Affleck and Damon play officers in the Miami-Dade Police Department who find millions of dollars stashed inside a house.

"The Rip" is a dramatization of a real 2016 raid of a home in Miami Lakes in which over $21 million was found in hidden five-gallon buckets linked to a suspected marijuana trafficker.

Affleck and Damon have said while promoting the film that the story is loosely based on accounts from Miami-Dade Police Capt. Chris Casiano, who served as a technical advisor on the film. Damon told The Associated Press during a January interview that he and Affleck spent time with Casiano and other narcotics officers in preparation for the film.

“We really wanted to kind of understand what those dynamics were like,” Damon said. “I mean, these units are very tight because they’re really putting their lives in each other’s hands, and they’re doing something that’s very dangerous.”

Attorneys for Flaco Pictures and Artists Equity declined to comment when reached by NBC Miami.

But in a March 19 response to the plaintiffs’ demand letter, Leita Walker, an attorney for Artists Equity, wrote that the film does not purport to tell the true story of that incident or portray real people, which had been stated by a disclaimer in the film’s credits.

Although Smith and Santana aren’t named in the film and weren’t involved in its production, the lawsuit claims that Santana was serving as the lead detective assigned to the real case, and Smith was the sergeant who supervised the investigative team. The film’s inclusion of real details about the case gives the impression that the characters are based on the plaintiffs, the suit said.

The lawsuit also claims that Smith and Santana have suffered harm to their personal and professional reputations based on some of the film's content portraying the conduct of the officers' characters.

"Third parties have asked Plaintiffs which characters in the Film they were and how many buckets they kept," the lawsuit claims. "Family members, colleagues and peers in other entities unknown to the Plaintiffs but aware of the 2016 case, also remarked that Plaintiffs must have used seized funds to build personal property improvements, purchase vehicles and vessels, and afford private schooling for their children."

The suit claims that Smith and Santana have "repeatedly been questioned by third parties regarding the characters and events depicted" and said one of them was contacted by a Miami-Dade County State Attorney asking whether any allegations of theft had ever been made in connection with the case and saying that his office would be looking into it.

"The Film and its promotional content imply misconduct, poor judgment, and unethical behavior in connection with a real law-enforcement operation," the lawsuit reads. "As a result, Plaintiffs have suffered damage to their reputations, diminished standing among peers and colleagues, and injury to their credibility in law-enforcement and professional circles."

The lawsuit said that letters were sent to Falco Pictures, LLC, and Artists Equity, LLC, demanding a public detraction and other "corrective measures," but companies refused arguing that the film includes a disclaimer and has multiple discrepancies with the actual raid.

The plaintiffs' attorneys then allege that the defendants responded to their inquiry by saying their "concerns are unfounded" because the none of the names used in the film match real people, the location of the film's raid took place in Hialeah instead of Miami Lakes, the house in the movie belongs to a woman instead of a man, and the film's plot line regarding corrupt law enforcement and a murdered police captain "are fictional," according to the lawsuit.

The suit claims that while the message "inspired by true events" appears prominently at the beginning of the film, a longer disclaimer only appears after the film and its credits.

"This program is inspired by real events; however, the characters and events depicted have been fictionalized for dramatic purposes, and any similarity to actual persons is purely coincidental and unintentional," the disclaimer reads, according to the suit.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.