Must Be Selling That Other Oregano

Nicholas Marrocco loves franchising.

In 2003, police stopped an Amtrak passenger traveling from Chicago to Seattle. After the passenger began sweating in the December Chicago air, the police brought in a drug-sniffing dog. Ultimately, the police recovered a bundle containing $100,120 and determined that the passenger was a courier for Nicolas Marrocco.

Marrocco's tax returns showed income of around $35K to $40K. At first he claimed that he was working "towards a partnership in a pizza franchise that 'did' $1.6M to $1.8M per year."

The feds still didn't believe him, and so Marrocco then claimed that he "moonlighted at a successful sports bar franchise as a bartender." Alas, we will never know the names of these franchisee employers, since according to a skeptical Judge Elaine Bucklo:

Mr. Marrocco's testimony regarding his purported employment history conspicuously lacks any details of the kind that would be necessary to probe the veracity of his statements: in some cases he does not even name his putative employer or indicate the dates he was allegedly employed...

Mr.Marrocco was in business for himself, but not by himself.

Reportedly the IFA will be featuring him in the next issue of Franchise World as employee turned franchisee candidate of the month.

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United States of America v. Funds in the Amount of One Hundred Thousand and One Hundred Twenty Dollars, N.D. Illinois, October 4, 2011