A man has come forward with an allegation of sexual assault or battery against cafe owner and rising political figure Manny Yekutiel, which was reported to police but which did not result in any arrest or charges.

The allegations, which were reported Tuesday by the SF Standard, were brought by Brad Joseph Chapin, a political activist and former board member of the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club — a fact that brings with it its own whiff of political motivations, because the club has endorsed Yekutiel's opponent in the District 8 supervisor race, Gary McCoy.

Chapin says that on the night of February 21, 2020, he attended what sounds like a small sex party at a Mission District apartment. It's described only as "a small gathering in the Mission home of a couple he knew well," and Chapin says he went looking for the couple who lived there, in their bedroom, but they turned out to be in an adjoining bathroom.

In the bedroom, though, was a man by himself, "wearing a beanie and sweating." Chapin would only later recogize this man as Yekutiel, and he claims that Yekutiel approached him aggressively, "stuck one of his hands down my pants and grabbed me and was squeezing me and intentionally causing pain."

"It was bizarre. He literally had me by the testicles," Chapin tells the Standard. "It was intentionally sexually demeaning."

He further claims that Yekutiel pressed further, as if he were intending to penetrate his anus with a finger. When Chapin says he pushed Yekutiel off, he claims that Yekutiel lifted his shirt and expressed what Chapin interpreted to be disgust at his stomach and lack of fitness.

Chapin only filed a police report about the incident in April of this year, but he showed the Standard a contemporaneous text message he sent to a friend in which he says, "Manny just sexually assaulted me without realizing it was me."

Chapin says that he and Yekutiel knew each other vaguely through political circles, and he had declined to report the incident earlier out of shame and embarassment.

Yekutiel denies the allegations, telling the Standard that Chapin's "account changed more than once."

"These allegations are false. What is being described did not happen," Yekutiel says in a statement. “When he reached out to me, I told him directly that it didn’t happen. He filed a police report, the police investigated, and took no further action. They said they didn’t even need to interview me."

Whether there is truth to the allegations or not, they appear to already be causing trouble for Yekutiel's political ambitions, and for his reputation as a kind of impresario of political discourse at his Mission District cafe.

Per the Standard, in a separate article, House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi canceled a planned March 8 appearance at Manny's for International Women's Day, saying she "heard there was a public accusation of sexual impropriety against the owner." The Standard further notes that McCoy, Yekutiel's opponent for D8 supervisor, works as an aide to Pelosi.

The publication further notes that Yekutiel, the more moderate candidate, has been leading in the race, in polling and fundraising, and has endorsements from Board of Supervisors President and current D8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, D5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood, and former Mayor Willie Brown, as well as national celebrities like Senator Corey Booker and Jane Fonda.

It would seem that the police don't believe that the allegations rise to the level of assault, though they do suggest a nonconsensual groping encounter that may have occurred in the context of a sexually charged, late-night house party.

So far, no other news outlet has covered the allegations.

Yekutiel, who publicly toyed with a run for mayor in late 2023 but quickly walked that back, has not been quiet about his own political ambitions. He has worked with Mayor Daniel Lurie on the Civic Joy Fund since before Lurie became mayor, and has helped spearhead popular events like Downtown First Thursdays.

He told the Examiner earlier this month that his goal is "to make District 8 the most business-friendly district in the city," and he floated the ambitious plan of getting 10,000 new homes built in the Castro over the next eight years, focusing particularly on the stretch of Market between Castro and Octavia streets — although many of the developable sites on that stretch have already been developed over the last decade.

Previously: Manny Yekutiel of Manny’s Fame Declares He’s Running for District 8 Supervisor