Updated 8:35 p.m.

On the 2011 night he was accused by a woman of sexually assaulting her at a Portland nightclub, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban appeared inebriated to the point that he was eventually asked to leave the bar, a security worker on duty that night told The Oregonian/OregonLive.

Christopher White said he saw the NBA basketball team owner in the Barrel Room with his entourage and witnessed Cuban putting his arm around a woman for a photo.

"She jumped away like she was not happy with him," White, 33, said in an interview Wednesday with The Oregonian/OregonLive. "That's when the energy in the room kind of exploded."

The woman, whose name has not been released, claimed Cuban shoved his hand down the back of her jeans and penetrated her vagina with his finger. Cuban denies doing so.

White's account comes a day after Willamette Week revealed Portland police had investigated the claim against Cuban in 2011. The billionaire was never arrested, and Multnomah County prosecutors declined to pursue criminal charges, citing a lack of evidence.

The NBA announced Wednesday that it is reviewing the allegations against Cuban and the decision by prosecutors not to pursue the case.

White's recollections are the first reported from an independent eyewitness who offers support for the woman's account.

"I didn't have a camera on his hand," said White, who held various positions at the Northwest Third Avenue club between 2010 and 2014. "But it sure looked like it was too low to be just on her back."

Police never interviewed White, who said he is relying on his memory of events from seven years ago. Investigators, however, did speak with four other Barrel Room employees. None of them said they noticed anything unusual that evening.

In a detailed account Wednesday, White said he was working the floor that night when the earbud he and other staff wore crackled with the news that Cuban had showed up with a small entourage, including NBA basketball star Kevin Love, a Lake Oswego High School graduate.

White noticed immediately the blustery billionaire seemed very drunk when he arrived. Cuban was sweating and his hair looked messy, the former employee said. He slurred his words and gestured wildly as he interacted with people.

The woman who accused Cuban of assault also told police Cuban was intoxicated, according to Willamette Week. Cuban acknowledged drinking that night, but insisted he wasn't "sloshed," he told police.

White offered a different account.

"He was slinking around all over the place," White said. "I believe we told him we couldn't serve him any alcohol."

White said about five club security guards hovered around Cuban and his crew at all times. White, on the other hand, was tasked with controlling the crowd that gravitated toward the celebrity bunch.

Club patrons were enthralled by the presence of the public figure, who also stars on the ABC show "Shark Tank" and has publicly toyed with running for president, White said. Some snapped photos of Cuban and tried to touch him.

Cuban would point his finger at women with whom he wanted to be photographed and beckoned them, White said. The way Cuban touched some of the women struck White as inappropriate because his hands moved well below the middle of their backs, he said.

"He was, like, really kind of gropey toward them," White said. "It just wasn't how you'd normally pose in a picture with someone."

The woman who reported the assault said she asked to take a picture with Cuban on the advice of a friend who was with her, a Multnomah County District Attorney's Office memo says.

She claimed the groping occurred while the picture was being taken, according to the memo. White said he was standing about 20 feet away from the woman and Cuban.

"She definitely jumped after he had put his arm around her," White said.

The woman looked upset and began to raise her voice and point angrily at Cuban, White said. Security guards moved quickly to separate the woman and other club patrons from the celebrity, he said.

Portland police interviewed a manager at the Barrel Room, two security workers and a bartender who were at the nightclub during Cuban's visit. They were interviewed 10 days after the alleged incident, and all four said they noticed no misconduct by Cuban or anything unusual while he was there. He spent the night in a tent taking pictures with bar patrons.

The manager, Sean Mooney, said he escorted Cuban to his car sometime after 2 a.m., and only noted that someone heckled Cuban on the way there, the police report said. Mooney said he didn't see or know of any inappropriate contact Cuban had with anyone.

Brad Wilson, one of the security workers interviewed, said he was working in the tent that night and found none of the photo ops he witnessed as "exceptional" and said he had no clear memory of any of the individual interactions, the report said.

There were no security cameras inside the tent, the report said.

"This former employee of the bar who is coming forward today, seven years later, says he was watching Mr. Cuban at the critical moment when the photographs were being taken and Mr. Cuban did not put his hand in the complainant's pants," said Jacob Houze, an attorney for Cuban, in a statement.

"This former employee's claims about Mr. Cuban's interactions with other patrons and employees are directly refuted by all the witnesses who were interviewed by the police. Once again, this did not happen."

According to the police report, the woman said she told her friend and boyfriend the same night about the alleged incident.

The woman said she stopped her boyfriend from going back into the bar and confronting Cuban because he also was drunk, according to the report.

Cuban was eventually asked to leave the bar, White said, which he said the NBA owner did not respond well to. White said Cuban swore at those around him before storming off.

White said he was never interviewed by police, but later told a friend what he'd witnessed. The friend confirmed to The Oregonian/OregonLive that White had told him the same account.

The Portland Police Bureau did not immediately respond to requests seeking comment.

Christopher Lenahan, the Barrel Room owner at that time, said in an interview that he was never contacted by authorities about the reported assault nor did any staff ever mention a police investigation to him.

"That's kind of big stuff," said Lenahan, who later sold the downtown club. "How did this not get into the news at the time?"

Oregonian/OregonLive staff writer Everton Bailey, Jr. contributed to this report.

-- Shane Dixon Kavanaugh

skavanaugh@oregonian.com

503-294-7632 II @shanedkavanaugh