Latest news with #Rebelo
Daily Mirror
18-05-2025
- Daily Mirror
Failed trader savagely murders mum to impress famous girlfriend with one error
Andre Rebelo was drowning in debt – information that he hid from his influencer girlfriend - so he came up with a shocking plan to make money that ended in a brutal tragedy They were a couple with a seemingly enviable life. It was 2020 and Andre Rebelo was a crypto currency trader and his girlfriend of several years was social media influencer and model Gracie Piscopo, who had more than one million Instagram followers. They had a son together and shared their glamorous lifestyle with their fans online. Rebelo and Gracie lived in a rented luxury home in Perth, Australia. They enjoyed lavish overseas holidays and drove expensive cars. Rebelo had been a supermarket delivery driver, who everyone believed had built his wealth from crypto trading, but he was hiding a secret. He had told everyone he was coming into $500,000 due to the success of his business, but that was a lie. In reality, after trading for around three years, he was $100,000 in debt and struggling to provide what was needed to keep up the appearance of his extravagant life. Gracie was unaware of the extreme debt as Rebelo handled their finances. While she earned money as an influencer with growing popularity, the price of their lifestyle was going up in cost too and Rebelo was running out of time to pay off his debts. On 25 May, 2020, Rebelo's brother Fabian, 23, was concerned when his mum Colleen, 58, didn't pick him up from work at 2pm as planned. Fabian lived with his mum, while his older three siblings, including Rebelo, had left home. Fabian tried to call his mum and, when there was no answer, he walked to their home in Bicton. He could hear the shower running in the en suite bathroom, but Colleen didn't reply when he called out. Worried, he entered the bathroom and found his mum slumped on her knees under the running water. He called the emergency services and performed CPR, but she was pronounced dead at the scene by the paramedics. Colleen's cause of death was undetermined but it wasn't considered suspicious, despite her being healthy. She'd been found wearing mascara and gold jewellery in the shower, which was unusual. The shower mat was draped over the side of the bath as well, but her death was put down to natural causes. Three days after her death, Rebelo tried to claim on her life insurance. Collectively, the three policies were worth more than $1.15 million and shockingly, despite having three siblings, he appeared to be the sole beneficiary. He particularly pursued one policy that was worth $500,000 – the exact amount he had told Gracie was coming from his trading. Suspicious behaviour An insurance company employee grew suspicious as they asked for more paperwork. Rebelo provided fake copies of a coroner's report that said Colleen's cause of death was an aneurysm, a fake report from his mum's psychologist and a forged copy of her will that again named him as the sole beneficiary. The insurance company contacted the police and alerted them to Rebelo's behaviour. Investigators discovered that Rebelo had taken out three policies on his mum in her name in the week before she had died. After initially denying seeing his mum on the day of her death, his phone records placed him at the house for an hour, just two hours before she was found in the shower. Rebelo eventually said they'd had coffee and when he'd left, she was alive. The police discovered Rebelo was heavily in debt, and had been using loans and credit cards to keep up the pretence of wealth. Debt collectors had been pursuing him and he was going to struggle to pay the rent on the home he shared with Gracie and their son. In October 2020, he was charged with forgery offences. In November 2022, there was enough evidence to charge him with his mum's murder. By the time the trial took place in 2024, Gracie and Rebelo had ended their relationship. She wasn't accused of any wrongdoing. At the trial, Rebelo denied killing his mum but on the first day, he pleaded guilty to four counts of attempts to defraud the insurance company and admitted to forging documents to try to get a payout from one policy. He claimed he was doing it to help his siblings get the money they were due because he feared his mum had taken her own life and that would have made the policies void. The prosecution said he had murdered his mum because he needed the money to cover his lies and maintain the illusion of his wealth. They alleged he'd only ever made $22 in all of his crypto trades. They said his pursuit of his 'plastic existence', which was played out on social media, led him to murder. 'To the outside world they were rich and beautiful, but the truth was different,' the prosecution said. They showed the court that Rebelo had created an email address in his mum's name and taken out three policies between 18 and 20 May. On 25 May, he'd visited his mum and stayed for an hour. Two hours later she was found slumped in the shower. The court heard that Colleen's cause of death could have been asphyxiation, including by smothering, but it couldn't be confirmed. Rebelo took the stand and said he hadn't told the police he'd seen his mum on the day of her death because he was not in 'the right state of mind'. He said again that his mother may have taken her own life, which is why he had committed fraud. Stripped of dignity After an eight-week trial, Rebelo, 29, was found guilty. In April 2025, he was sentenced to a minimum of 25 years in prison. Rebelo's sentence was backdated to 22 November, 2022, when he was taken into custody. The judge said the facts about Colleen's death might never be known but Rebelo had staged the scene so it would look like she'd died of natural causes. 'The only reasonable inference is that you took your mother by surprise,' said the judge. 'You used personal violence to kill her. You staged your mother in the shower to make it look like she died of natural causes. In doing so you stripped her of dignity.' The judge said the crime was premeditated and monstrous. 'The persona you had created alongside Ms Piscopo was more important to you than your familial connection to your mother,' he added. Outside court, Rebelo's father Antonio Rebelo said he continued to stand by his son.
National Post
04-05-2025
- Politics
- National Post
Ranalletta Re-Elected President of CUPE BC, Province's Largest Union
Article content VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Karen Ranalletta has been re-elected to lead B.C.'s largest union – CUPE BC. This will be her third term as president of the B.C. division of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, representing over 100,000 workers across the province. Article content Article content 'I could not be more proud to be your President,' said Ranalletta, who ran unopposed at the CUPE BC 2025 Convention held this week in Vancouver. 'I know we have it in us to take on the challenges of the next year head on, and I am ready for the fight.' Article content Prior to being the first woman elected to lead CUPE BC in over 25 years, Ranalletta served three terms as a General Vice-President, and as President of CUPE 2950 – representing more than 1500 clerical and library workers at the University of British Columbia. Article content At the annual convention, Tony Rebelo was elected to his first full term as Secretary Treasurer. Rebelo was first appointed to the post by the CUPE BC executive board mid-term in December 2024. Rebelo is a member of CUPE 7000, working at SkyTrain for over 23 years. Article content Over 400 CUPE BC delegates also elected four General Vice-Presidents, with regional caucus' electing Regional Vice-Presidents, and equity caucuses elected diversity vice presidents to join Ranalletta and Rebelo on the unions executive for a 2-year term. Article content The 2025 CUPE BC convention passed over 50 resolutions setting the agenda of the union's coming year and heard from guest speakers including CUPE's National President Mark Hancock and National Secretary Treasurer Candace Rennick, and BC Premier David Eby. Article content Article content Article content Article content Article content Article content
Associated Press
04-05-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Ranalletta Re-Elected President of CUPE BC, Province's Largest Union
VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 3, 2025-- Karen Ranalletta has been re-elected to lead B.C.'s largest union – CUPE BC. This will be her third term as president of the B.C. division of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, representing over 100,000 workers across the province. 'I could not be more proud to be your President,' said Ranalletta, who ran unopposed at the CUPE BC 2025 Convention held this week in Vancouver. 'I know we have it in us to take on the challenges of the next year head on, and I am ready for the fight.' Prior to being the first woman elected to lead CUPE BC in over 25 years, Ranalletta served three terms as a General Vice-President, and as President of CUPE 2950 - representing more than 1500 clerical and library workers at the University of British Columbia. At the annual convention, Tony Rebelo was elected to his first full term as Secretary Treasurer. Rebelo was first appointed to the post by the CUPE BC executive board mid-term in December 2024. Rebelo is a member of CUPE 7000, working at SkyTrain for over 23 years. Over 400 CUPE BC delegates also elected four General Vice-Presidents, with regional caucus' electing Regional Vice-Presidents, and equity caucuses elected diversity vice presidents to join Ranalletta and Rebelo on the unions executive for a 2-year term. The 2025 CUPE BC convention passed over 50 resolutions setting the agenda of the union's coming year and heard from guest speakers including CUPE's National President Mark Hancock and National Secretary Treasurer Candace Rennick, and BC Premier David Eby. COPE491 View source version on CONTACT: For more information: Jessica Orcutt CUPE Communications Representative 250.327.4191,[email protected] KEYWORD: NORTH AMERICA CANADA INDUSTRY KEYWORD: PUBLIC POLICY/GOVERNMENT ADVOCACY GROUP OPINION STATE/LOCAL OTHER POLICY ISSUES SOURCE: Canadian Union of Public Employees Copyright Business Wire 2025. PUB: 05/03/2025 08:10 PM/DISC: 05/03/2025 08:09 PM
Business Wire
04-05-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Ranalletta Re-Elected President of CUPE BC, Province's Largest Union
VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Karen Ranalletta has been re-elected to lead B.C.'s largest union – CUPE BC. This will be her third term as president of the B.C. division of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, representing over 100,000 workers across the province. 'I could not be more proud to be your President,' said Ranalletta, who ran unopposed at the CUPE BC 2025 Convention held this week in Vancouver. 'I know we have it in us to take on the challenges of the next year head on, and I am ready for the fight.' Prior to being the first woman elected to lead CUPE BC in over 25 years, Ranalletta served three terms as a General Vice-President, and as President of CUPE 2950 - representing more than 1500 clerical and library workers at the University of British Columbia. At the annual convention, Tony Rebelo was elected to his first full term as Secretary Treasurer. Rebelo was first appointed to the post by the CUPE BC executive board mid-term in December 2024. Rebelo is a member of CUPE 7000, working at SkyTrain for over 23 years. Over 400 CUPE BC delegates also elected four General Vice-Presidents, with regional caucus' electing Regional Vice-Presidents, and equity caucuses elected diversity vice presidents to join Ranalletta and Rebelo on the unions executive for a 2-year term. The 2025 CUPE BC convention passed over 50 resolutions setting the agenda of the union's coming year and heard from guest speakers including CUPE's National President Mark Hancock and National Secretary Treasurer Candace Rennick, and BC Premier David Eby. COPE491
Boston Globe
26-03-2025
- Sport
- Boston Globe
Hockey ice isn't the same as figure skating ice. Here's how the bull gang got TD Garden ready for the World Championships.
Advertisement Ergo, Rebelo directed the Garden's faithful bull gang to boost the ice's thickness to approximately 2½ inches, an inch or more above the hockey standard, and also had them dial up its surface temperature by 5 degrees to approximately 22 degrees Fahrenheit. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'Those toe picks are just like taking a fork into the ice, so you need some depth,' acknowledged Rebelo. 'Otherwise, you'll just be hitting cement.' Joao Rebelo, director of operations at TD Garden, directed the bull gang to boost the ice's thickness to approximately 2.5 inches, an inch or more above the hockey standard, and also had them dial up its surface temperature by 5 degrees to approximately 22 degrees Fahrenheit. Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff All the lines and faceoff circles have been masked over and the surface's color, usually an eye-popping white, has been painted a stainless steel gray, making it so that TV cameras, particularly those positioned only some 10 feet above ice level, won't have to contend with glare. Hockey's brilliant white ice makes it easier for fans and TV cameras to follow the tiny black puck. The women and men skating this week, their oft-colorful outfits sometimes dusted with shimmering sequins, are easy for the naked eye to spot. Related : The first order of business following Hockey East action Friday night, noted Rebelo, had the bull gang applying white paint (manufactured by Jet Ice in Bradford, Ontario) directly to the ice surface, masking all lines and logos. 'So nothing bleeds through,' noted Rebelo. Next came the foundational gray paint, in a shade commonly found on stainless steel kitchen appliances and many laptop computers. Once the base color dried, the event's large center ice logo was put into place, flanked by a pair of ISU logos, and then the entire surface was flooded with the added inch of water. Advertisement Et voila, cue the music and ready the pluggers. Pluggers? 'Yeah,' said Rebelo, 'that's a little different than hockey.' Pluggers, bull gang members wearing their usual hockey skates and toting buckets of slushy ice (think: snow cones), are essential members of the show's maintenance crew. The thicker ice, warmed by 5 degrees to facilitate landings, does not eliminate the risk of chips and divots. Just before the resurfacers wheel out and make 'new' ice, pluggers scatter across the surface in search of chips, divots, and ruts. If a repair is needed, they reach into their buckets for some of that slushy ice, fill the spot, and then use a puck to tamp it down and smooth it out. Handy tool, that 6-ounce chunk of vulcanized rubber. Related : Asked if his pluggers would consider wearing figure skates for such a high-class event, Rebelo offered an exaggerated, 'Nooooooooo.' He knows his workforce. In days of yore, contended Milt Schmidt, the late legendary Bruin, the rumble of trains into North Station played havoc with the ice surface of the Garden, built in 1928. Ice making and resurfacing of the 1930s, '40s, and '50s were not the fine scientific arts that they are in the 21st century. It was not uncommon, according to Schmidt, for the trains to force the ice to quake and break apart, exposing the old building's cement floor. No pluggers in those days. The games continued and, per Schmidt, the skaters in their steel hockey blades would tear right across the cement, friction causing sparks to fly. Advertisement 'I talked to Milt, but I never talked to him about the ice,' said Rebelo, who chuckled over the retelling of Schmidt's story. 'I guess you could equate that to our other tenant, the Celtics. You always heard the story about the dead spots in the [parquet] floor. Now, I've yet to find one of those, but OK, yeah, sure, I'll believe that.' Hmm. How might even a tiny patch of exposed cement liven up the World Figure Skating Championships? 'Oh, now that would be amazing,' mused Rebelo, playing right along with the Globe reporter's suggestion made in jest. 'They don't have pyro, could be interesting to see that.' Visitors to the Garden this week who are accustomed to being there for hockey games should be able to tell the building is slightly warmer, said Rebelo, in part because the ice temperature is some 30 percent higher. The overall building temperature will be easier to maintain this week because figure skaters, unlike hockey players, don't arrive in big team buses that enter the building via a long ramp that deposits them directly to ice level. Without the need to open the humongous door on the south side of the building, allowing the buses to enter, said Rebelo, it's easier to keep the building at a constant temperature. Such a 'sealed' environment, added Rebelo, makes it easier on the building's state-of-the-art ice plant. 'You've got to remember,' said Rebelo, 'an ice rink is nothing but a refrigerator without a door.' The stage has been set. The world's best figure skaters are ready to strut their stuff with daring athleticism, some punishing landings, and style and elegance. Advertisement Rebelo, who knew it was a lost cause to think his pluggers might wear figure skates for such a formal occasion, said he asked his crew if they'd wear tuxedos when wheeling out on their ice resurfacers. 'Nope,' he said. 'Wouldn't go for it.' Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at
