Nick Carter: Backstreet Boys star files countersuit against two sexual assault accusers

Nick Carter has filed a countersuit against two women who have accused him of sexual assault.

In December, the Backstreet Boys singer was sued for sexual battery by Shannon Ruth, a woman who claims Carter raped her in 2001 when she was a teenage fan of his.

Carter was previously accused of rape in 2017 by Dream singer Melissa Schuman, who alleged that the incident occurred when she was 18 and he was 22.

Carter, who has previously denied the allegations, is now countersuing both Ruth and Schuman.

In court documents obtained by People on Friday (3 February), it’s claimed that the women are “opportunists” who set out to “destroy innocent lives” by taking advantage of the #MeToo movement.

The lawsuit says that Ruth and Schuman launched a five-year conspiracy to “defame and vilify Carter and otherwise ruin his reputation for the purposes of garnering attention and fame and/or extorting money from Carter”.

It is claimed that the allegations by Ruth in December caused more than $2.3m (£1.8m) in business losses. The countersuit also says that Carter believes he has never met Ruth.

“Just as true victims of sexual assault have the right to seek justice and be heard, so too do persons falsely accused of sexual assault have the right to due process of law and to defend themselves by speaking the truth,” court documents read.

Responding to news of the countersuit, Ruth’s attorney Mark J Boskovich told Page Six: “Why should Nick Carter be believed?... A jury will weigh the evidence and decide.”

Schuman’s lawyers could not be reached by the publication.

In her lawsuit, Ruth claims that she was sexually assaulted by Carter after he invited her onto his tour bus following a Backstreet Boys show in Washington.

Ruth, who is autistic and has cerebral palsy, claims Carter gave her a pink drink that he dubbed “VIP juice” that tasted alcoholic, before insisting she perform oral sex on him. In court documents, it’s then alleged that Carter raped Ruth, who says she contracted HPV after the incident.

In a statement shared with The Independent, Carter’s attorney Michael Holtz vehemently denied any wrongdoing on behalf of his client, saying that Ruth had been “manipulated into making false allegations about Nick”.

He said: “This claim about an incident that supposedly took place more than 20 years ago is not only legally meritless but also entirely untrue.”

In 2017, Carter was also accused of rape by Schuman of the band Dream, who alleged that he raped her at his flat while the two were working together on a made-for-TV movie.

Carter denied the allegations at the time, saying that he was “shocked and saddened” by the accusations.

“Melissa never expressed to me while we were together or at any time since that anything we did was not consensual,” he said.

Carter was a founding member of the Backstreet Boys when they formed in 1993.

If you have been raped or sexually assaulted, you can contact your nearest Rape Crisis organisation for specialist, independent and confidential support. For more information, visit their website here.