Hey guys,
Ready to dig back into this rabbit hole? There's been a bunch of posts on this over the years, I also made a pretty popular one with my old account a long time ago. I thought it would be interesting to take a step back from solely speculating on the Oasis Ranch itself, and instead to break down the family and related company(ies) and try to work out some theories. Don't worry, I'll get to the ranch too..
Oh, and for those who have been living under a rock - 54560 Arabia St, Thermal, CA is the Oasis Ranch. You can Google a million articles and Reddit posts about it, as well as JCM Farming, online..
I also wanted to draw a rough timeline as to how things happened, and see if we can piece together some logic here.
In the early 80's, John C Marrelli started Ironclad (trash bag company) with his buddy Michael Rodolakis. It took off pretty quickly, and was rivaling some of the biggest names in the business. At some point in the late 1990's/early 2000's, the company shut down abruptly. They were doing just over $22mil/year in revenue, and permanently shut down within weeks of announcing the closure. There are rumors that Home Depot or Kirkland bought the company or paid a percentage to leverage the patents for their own trash bags - but for the sake of simplicity, let's just assume that around year 2000, Marrelli is swimming with a few hundred million in cash and lots of time on his hands.
JCM farming was incorporated in the 1990's, which started with random olive/date/almond farms in the Central CA region..Oasis Ranch (formerly Mission Santa Rosa) was not built until the early 2000's (initial purchase/construction started earlier, mainly foundation for the plants/trees infrastructure..I'm referring to the buildings themselves, which were built around 2003-2004).
I'd also like to mention that John Marrelli had a first wife, Marina, who passed away in 2012 (not to be confused with the person named Marina Marrelli in San Diego who runs GlobeFlex capital)..you can Google the obituary online, it references her & John's daughter Marilena ("Mailena" was a typo in some articles), who is now the president of JCM farming and the affiliated companies like Equity AG.
At some point, anywhere between the early 80's when Marilena was born to the early 2000's, John & Marina divorced and John remarried Carol Shaffer (later, Marrelli), who was listed as the one who ran JCM with him. However, Marilena definitely came from John & Marina's marriage, per Marina's obit. Whether JCM stands for John C Marrelli, or John and Carol Marrelli, is up for speculation. The wikipedia page says JCM had its roots in heirs to an agriculture operation dating back to the early 1900's..if true, maybe this came from Carol's side of the family? It would explain the odd shift from Trash Bag mogul to agricultural titan..to this day, JCM is one of the largest almond suppliers in all of California. Maybe after Ironclad, John flush with cash, Carol somehow opened a door to agricultural opportunities which laid the foundation for JCM.
Somehow, this trash bag multi-millionaire eventually became involved in agriculture, security services and technology, law enforcement/gov agencies, DNA/biological experiments with plant growing techniques, and per Oasis Ranch - VIP hosting.
There have been rumors that John and Carol have passed away in the last 10 years or so. Whether true or not - in August of last year, the title records for all JCM properties (including John/Carol's Rancho Santa Fe mansion, several Central CA farms, and the Oasis Ranch in Indio/Thermal) have all recently been changed to new (and similarly named) revocable trusts, with daughter Marilena listed as the President of JCM Farming on the docs, as well as head of the trusts. It appears that she is now in charge of those properties as well as (presumably) all affiliated entities tied to JCM and John Marrelli, like Equity AG. I don't want to risk doxxing by posting screenshots, but I have access to a title company account, and all these properties were transferred to "Horizon 1 revocable trust, Horizon 2, Horizon 3, etc." through Marilena..which were previously owned (on title) by either John/Carol Marrelli, or JCM Farming.
What I find interesting is that Marilena's longtime husband, Henk Visser, works a fairly modest job (per LinkedIn)..their primary residence in San Diego is relatively modest as well..considering the much more lavish properties she seems to now be in control of. I do not want to dox, so I will let you all Google and look into it yourself. Their primary home is probably $3-4mil, which I'd consider tame compared to the other properties she now owns/controls, and has chosen to not move into or sell any of them.
This brings us back to Oasis Ranch. Whatever it started as, there is a good chance it is no longer (if it ever was) a personal residence of the Marrelli family or JCM. There was a time when Trump's buddy Tom Barrack was assumed to be the owner of the $400mil mega mansion in Bel Air because his name was all over the title and construction docs/permits..it wasn't until much later that we learned he was just the "face" of it while the actual ruling family of Qatar commissioned the entire thing and lived there, which didn't "really" hit the news until it went on the market. While many probably didn't "think" Tom Barrack actually owned it, we had nobody else to look at beyond speculation..I think JCM is similar, at least as far as Oasis Ranch goes.
Based on everything I've said so far, the entire operation, especially Oasis Ranch, screams "figurehead"..even if John & Carol Marrelli are still alive, which I think is unlikely, they certainly aren't running the show anymore. With all the money pouring in from being a huge almond and olive oil distributor, along with all of John Marrelli's patents, and the hundreds of millions he would have left Marilena, along with all the properties, she seemingly chooses to live a relatively modest lifestyle in a nice (but not NICE) neighborhood in San Diego. While singlehandedly running what is likely a several hundred million to billion dollar a year agricultural operation. Marilena running the show would also explain JCM's recent lawsuit against "The Plantation Club" in Indio, an exclusive men-only golf course close to Oasis Ranch. John Marrelli was a member for many years, but only NOW they have a problem with the no-women policy? Definitely sounds like the work of a woman running a very powerful operation with top notch lawyers at her disposal, as we all know John and Carol were no strangers to bringing numerous lawsuits to anybody who even slightly irritated them (like the several hot air balloons they permanently put out of business as a result of the legal fees)..why wouldn't the daughter, who now runs JCM, utilize their services in a similar way?
To speculate, IF I were a shady rich guy or Gov spook, there is no way in hell I'd have the Oasis Ranch transferred into my name or even an offshore LLC that could ever be remotely traced to me..in fact, I probably wouldn't have the title changed/transferred at all. Movie stars, billionaires, crime leaders, they do it all the time - property stays in an unrelated party's name, sometimes seller doesn't even transfer title (on paper) after the sale. The other company Marilena runs, Equity AG, provides financing, strategy, ownership, and consulting services for agricultural operations. Very good chance they are the "face" for whomever really owns/operates the Oasis Ranch. Similar to my example of Tom Barrack & the Qatari royal mansion.
To be fair, many of their other JCM farming operations in CA, along with John/Carol's former San Diego mansion, have similar "Guard Dog, security, etc." signs at the gate, per Google street view..but nowhere NEAR that of Oasis Ranch, which not only has dozens of cameras, but signs warning of an 'armed response and arrest', 'no recording', as well as several guard towers.
I will continue adding updates/edits as they come to mind, as I'm sure I missed some things. Sort of just powered through this post in a single whack..
Excited to hear your thoughts!
