Look at all these rumors

San Leandro Councilmember Bryan Azevedo publicly aired all the rumors that I've been trying to report, but couldn't pin down, since 2023;

☕️MORNING BUZZ

—Among the dizzying number of potentially incriminating comments made by San Leandro Councilmember Bryan Azevedo in an interview aired by ABC7 Bay Area on Wednesday was how he casually gave voice to a number of rumors about his alleged behavior during a “trade mission” to Vietnam in July 2023.

In fact, several of the rumors that Azevedo mentioned—dalliances with prostitutes, massages, and drugs—I had been tracking since first hearing about them sometime in September 2023.

That’s how long I’ve been following this story, which later careened into a full-scale public corruption investigation by the FBI.

In Azevedo’s interview with ABC7’s Dan Noyes, he appeared to raise on his own the rumor that he was held in customs on the way back from Vietnam. Azevedo said it was because he packed five lighters from a casino.

The customs tale was the first rumor of many that was told to me. Of the many reasons why Azevedo was pulled out of line at the airport, lighters were never once mentioned to me.

Rumors of multiple trips to massage parlors followed. Azevedo told the San Francisco Chronicle last year that he only received “legit massages,” while insinuating others on the trip, which included more than 50 officials, participated in extra-curricular activities.

There were several other highly salacious rumors repeatedly brought to my attention, but I was never quite able to pin any of them down in a manner suitable for publication.

Simply put, too many people knew these stories, making it difficult to discern fact from fiction.

—I later filed a Public Records Request with the city of San Leandro, asking for information that included Azevedo and members of the Duong family.

The records, which I received in early January 2024, uncovered little other than showing Andy Duong personally invited Azevedo to the Vietnam trip via a text message.

However, quite a few people started acting very strange after the records request.

Everyone once eager to talk about the Vietnam trip suddenly had no information. According to a source, Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao had a name for me: “that f—king asshole.”

—411 ON THE 510—Become an East Bay Insiders subscriber today and get FULL ACCESS to the inside scoop every weekday morning at 6 a.m. It’s what the insiders read.

—More inside:

• Video: Former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao returned to court on Thursday. Plus, insights from inside the courtroom.

• Oakland City Council wants Newsom to pardon four individuals now at risk of deportation by the Trump administration.

• Oakland wants to name another street after a famous person.

• Final results in Oakland’s special election are expected today.

• The reason why the county’s deal for its half of the Coliseum is delayed is not because of the usual suspect.

• Criticism about the Castro Valley MAC’s overwhelmingly white male majority rankled the council’s lone minority male.