Chicago woman Sharon Bialek told a news conference here yesterday that Cain had groped her and misbehaved with her when she had met him in Washington to discuss employment possibilities after she lost her job at the National Restaurant Association in the late 1990s.

"I want you (Cain) to come clean," Bialek, accompanied by celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred, said. "Just admit what you did. Admit you were inappropriate to people, and then move forward."

Cain's camp issued a statement moments after Bialek's media encounter saying allegations against him are false.

"Activist celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred is bringing forth more false accusations against the character of Republican front-runner Herman Cain," the statement said.

"All allegations of harassment against Cain are completely false. Cain has never harassed anyone. Fortunately the American people will not allow Cain's bold '9-9-9 Plan', clear foreign policy vision and plans for energy independence to be overshadowed by these bogus attacks."

Cain, a 2012 Presidential hopeful, is grappling with sexual harassment accusations from three other women, who say he misbehaved with them while he was head of trade group National Restaurant Association.

Bialek is the first woman to come forward publicly with the sexual allegations, saying she opened up about the sexual abuse to "give a voice" to other women who might have been harassed by Cain during his tenure at the association.

Bialek recalled at the news conference that she had sought Cain's help after she was fired from her job at the association at its Chicago office. She met Cain to find another employment during a trip to Washington. She said after dinner, he put his hand on her leg and ran it under her skirt and pulled her head toward his crotch.

"I was surprised and shocked and I said, what are you doing? You know I have a boyfriend," Bialek said. "This is not what I came here for."

"You want a job, right?" Cain had said to her. "I asked him to stop and he did."
Allred presented two affidavits from Bialek's friends who had testified that she had told them of the incident at the time. "Cain, while running for president, is actively lying to Americans," Allred said. "Enough is enough. We have to fight back. That is what our client is doing here today."

Joel Bennett, the lawyer for one of Cain's anonymous accusers had said in a statement last week that Cain had engaged in a "series of inappropriate behaviours and unwanted advances" toward his client.