Herman Cain's latest accuser, Ginger White, told a second Atlanta TV nation that she decided to come forward with her story now "because she became aware of 'leaks' to the media about the relationship."
"There were threats of people coming out with their version, not that any version was very pretty. But I thought it was important to at least come out with my story, my side of the story," White told WSB-TV. White chose to go public with the affair because she began getting calls from TV and Web-based media sites, said Edward Buckley, an Atlanta attorney who has represented White in the past.
Buckley was interviewed by Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Aaron Gould Sheinin. “It was hitting a critical mass and she decided that she wanted to go on the record and be accurate,” Buckley said. The attorney said she feared where the intense media scrutiny on Cain the past few months would lead to her. “It has been a concern that this would come out,” he said. “This was a great burden and now here it is.”
At ABCNews.com, Laura Reddy reports that White's former business partner says White never mentioned Cain to her:
The female bodybuilder who once ran a bicycle business with latest Herman Cain accuser Ginger White says the Atlanta woman never mentioned the Republican presidential candidate, who she says was her lover for 13 years.
"His name has never come up," said Kimberly Vay, who told ABC News that she and White were former business partners.
But Vay, who filed and won a libel lawsuit against White, refused to comment directly when asked whether she considers White's accusations about Cain credible. "When you see the details of my lawsuit," said Vay, "they will speak for themselves."
Reddy detailed Vay's lawsuit against White for libel:
Acording to Vay's suit, which was filed in June 2011, White and Vay were partners in a fitness coaching business called No Limit Cycling, and held spinning classes inside the Martin Luther King Recreation Center, which is owned by the City of Atlanta. In November 2010, claimed Vay, White asked to end their partnership, with White continuing to operate No Limit Cycling, and Vay agreed.
On December 9, according to the complaint, White sent a "defamatory" note to a master email list of the company's clients and to city officials. The email said that White's business had "come tumbling down [on] the day I invited Kim Vay into my life and my business" and that Vay had turned her "dream" into a "nightmare." According to the complaint, the email alleged that Vay, a competitive bodybuilder, injected veterinary drugs into her system prior to contests," and also said that Vay preferred to date black men but had made derogatory comments about black women's hair.
Vay's complaint termed the allegation about drug use "false, malicious, defamatory" and "reckless," and therefore libelous.
Both women retained attorneys, according to Vay's account, and reached an out-of-court settlement in April 2011. In June, Vay filed suit, claiming that White had failed to live up to the settlement and that she was entitled to sue for libel. Vay's attorney Kurt Martin told ABC News that White had failed to honor the financial agreement that had settled the case.
