Nick Carter denies raping a 15-year-old in 2003 as he's sued by 3rd woman: A look at the lawsuits
Nick Carter denies sexually assaulting a teenager two decades ago. The Backstreet Boys singer, 43, fired back at claims laid out in a new lawsuit — the third sexual assault lawsuit he's facing — in a statement on Tuesday.
Here's what's going on.
Woman alleges Carter assaulted her in 2003
In a complaint filed in Las Vegas on Monday, a woman only identified as "A.R." claims that Carter sexually assaulted her several times. The woman was supposedly 15 at the time of the incidents while Carter was in his early 20s. She alleged she was assaulted on multiple occasions on a yacht and once on a tour bus.
Carter's accuser says she reported the alleged assaults to her mother after they occurred, who then contacted law enforcement in Pennsylvania. The musician was never charged in connection to the allegations, something his lawyer noted in a statement this week.
Attorney Dale Hayes Jr. tells TMZ that when the claims were made 20 years ago, authorities investigated the allegations and found no merit to move forward with charges. He says the woman is "repeating the same false allegations in a new legal complaint," but it "doesn't make them any more true."
This isn't the first time Carter has been accused of sexual assault
In December, Shannon "Shay" Ruth, now 39, came forward and publicly claimed that Carter assaulted her in 2001 when she was 17. The alleged incident happened after a concert in Tacoma, Wash. when the "I Want It That Way" crooner invited her onto the band's tour bus.
Ruth alleged Carter gave her "a funny-tasting beverage that he called VIP juice." She accused the singer of "ordering" her "to perform sexual acts on him," which she did "under duress," per her attorney. She claimed Carter then took her to a bed in the back of the bus where she was raped as she cried. She is seeking punitive and compensatory damages.
Carter denied the allegations via an attorney:
This claim about an incident that supposedly took place more than 20 years ago is not only legally meritless but also entirely untrue. Unfortunately, for several years now, Ms. Ruth has been manipulated into making false allegations about Nick — and those allegations have changed repeatedly and materially over time. No one should be fooled by a press stunt orchestrated by an opportunistic lawyer — there is nothing to this claim whatsoever, which we have no doubt the courts will quickly realize.
After the lawsuit was made public, ABC canceled a planned Backstreet Boys Christmas special, A Very Backstreet Holiday.
Singer Melissa Schuman brought a lawsuit against Carter earlier this year
The Backstreet Boys singer is also being sued for sexual assault and battery by Schuman, a former member of the girl group Dream. She claimed she was raped in 2003 when she was 18 and he was 22. Schuman first came forward with these allegations on her blog in 2017. She later filed a police report, but the Los Angeles District Attorney's office did not pursue charges because the statute of limitations expired. In April, Schuman filed a civil lawsuit against Carter.
Carter, who said their sexual encounter was consensual, denied the allegations in a strongly worded statement via his attorney.
"Melissa Schuman has been peddling this tale for many years, but her allegation was false when she first made it back in 2017 — and it still is. A judge in Nevada recently ruled, after reviewing the extensive evidence we laid out, that there are strong grounds for Nick Carter to proceed with his lawsuit against Ms. Schuman for plotting to damage, defame and extort Nick, his associates, his friends and his family," the statement began.
"In light of our progress in Nevada, this kind of response is at once both predictable and pathetic," his lawyer added. "But this PR stunt won't shake Nick from his determination to hold Ms. Schuman and her co-conspirators to account for the immeasurable pain and suffering their extortionate conduct has caused."
Schuman responded in a statement to the Los Angeles Times.
"I have faced extraordinary backlash for standing up for myself; I am not the first, however my intention is that I am the last," she said. "It's time that powerful figures in the music industry get the message that they can no longer afford to enable and protect sexual predators. I'm fighting to make the music industry a safer place to work and perform."
