In North Miami, a man named Fabrice Polynice—better known in his community as DJ Paz—is at the center of a legal fight that could end up changing how the U.S. government punishes people.
According to the FCC, Polynice ran a pirate radio station—Radio Touché Douce—for just 22 days in 2023. That short run was enough for the agency to hit him with a fine of $2.39 million, the maximum civil penalty allowed under the law for unlicensed broadcasting.
But Polynice is fighting back. And his argument is bigger than just the radio dial.
He’s not denying that the station existed. He’s not even denying he ran it. What he’s saying is this: the FCC can’t legally fine him like this anymore. Thanks to a recent Supreme Court decision, he says the fine is unconstitutional.
Here’s where the legal ground starts to shift.
Polynice is relying on SEC v. Jarkesy, a 2024 case where the Supreme Court ruled that federal agencies can’t just issue civil penalties internally. If the government wants to impose a major fine, they need to go through a proper court proceeding—jury trial and all. Otherwise, it’s a violation of your Seventh Amendment rights.
And in Polynice’s case, that process never happened. The FCC issued the fine, handled the appeal, and rejected it—all without ever stepping into a courtroom.
That means the same agency that accused him also judged him, sentenced him, and enforced the penalty. According to Jarkesy, that’s no longer how this is supposed to work.
And it’s not just theory. Earlier this year, a federal court struck down a $57 million FCC fine against AT&T for the exact same reason. So this isn’t just about one DJ—it’s about how the federal government hands out punishment in general.
Polynice also submitted his tax records with his appeal. Over the last three years, he’s earned an average income of less than $16,000. He’s well below the poverty line. He asked for the fine to be reduced based on hardship, but the FCC refused. They argued that his long history of pirate broadcasting—dating back over a decade—justified the penalty.
It’s true: this isn’t his first run-in. U.S. Marshals even seized his equipment back in 2012. But even inside the FCC, there’s debate over whether this new $2.4 million fine can legally stand.
Commissioner Nathan Simington voted against the penalty, saying the Jarkesy ruling poses real risk for the FCC. And Chair Brendan Carr went even further, warning that the agency’s current enforcement model is “on thin ice” and could soon be overturned if not reformed.
So why does this matter?
Because if Polynice wins, the fallout could be huge—not just for radio stations, but for how every government agency enforces its rules. From the SEC to the EPA to the FCC, any time a fine is issued without a jury trial, that enforcement may now be vulnerable to legal challenge.
In short: this case could set a new standard for how—and if—you can be fined by your own government.
And it all started with 22 days of music on 90.1 FM.
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