WASHINGTON – Herman Cain, the former pizza company executive leading national and state polls for the Republican presidential nomination, acknowledged reports Monday that he had been accused of sexual harassment and that his employer had reached financial settlements with his accusers.

The accusations and settlements came during Cain's 1996-99 tenure as president of the National Restaurant Association and were first reported by Politico, a website and political newspaper. The issue was settled internally and the women received an undisclosed settlement, according to the report.

In appearances and television interviews Sunday and Monday, Cain gave a series of different and, at times, contradictory answers about the Politico report. On Sunday, his campaign did not deny the allegations but accused "the Inside-the-Beltway media" of "dredging up thinly sourced allegations."

STORY: Cain fails to respond to sexual harassment claims swiftly[/*][/list]On Monday morning, Cain said he did not sexually harass anyone and didn't know about financial settlements. By Monday afternoon, Cain had confirmed that the allegations had been made and said the review by the restaurant association found to have "no basis" after an internal investigation.

" No. 1, in all of my over 40 years of business experience running businesses and corporations, I have never sexually harassed anyone," Cain said during a speech at the National Press Club. " No. 2, while at the restaurant association … I was falsely accused of sexual harassment."

Cain said he was "unaware" of any settlement that had been reached. "I hope it wasn't for much because I didn't do anything," he said.

But several hours later, Cain changed his explanation in an interview with Fox News, saying he did not know a second woman had filed a complaint and that one woman received "maybe three months salary."

"I don't remember. It might have been two months," Cain told Fox News, according to a Washington Examinerarticle. "I do remember my general counsel saying we didn't pay all of the money they demanded."

And on the PBS NewsHour, Cain, the former CEO of Godfather's Pizza, described an incident in which he told one of the women that she and his wife were both short.




The Former CEO of Pizza Flip Flop could not be reached for a comment.