Since his ascendency to the top tier of the GOP’s presidential ranks, Herman Cain has received a lot of attention in recent weeks—some good, and some bad. The latest bit of news to emerge is very bad. According to a report by Politico, while Cain was head of the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s, he was accused of sexually suggestive behavior by at least two women. They received financial payouts and left the trade group. The agreements also prohibit them from discussing the matter and their departures.

Cain’s campaign told the Associated Press Sunday night that the allegations are untrue and said the report was an unfair attack. "Dredging up thinly sourced allegations stemming from Mr. Cain's tenure as the chief executive officer at the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s, political trade press are now casting aspersions on his character and spreading rumors that never stood up to the facts," said spokesman J.D. Gordon in a written statement.

However, sources told Politico that the incidents included “innuendo,” “sexually suggestive” questions and “physical gestures that were not overtly sexual but that made women who experienced or witnessed them uncomfortable” at the office and at association events.

“I happen to know there were sealed settlements reached in the plural. I think that anybody who thinks this was a one-time, one-person transgression would be mistaken,” one source said.

(Photo: Scott Olson/GettyImages)