Nick Carter (43) has filed a counterclaim against Shannon Ruth (39) and Melissa Schuman (38), the women who believe the Backstreet Boys member assaulted them.
Ruth sued Carter in December and believes the abuse must have happened after a concert 21 years ago, when she was 17 years old.
In 2017, artist and actor Schuman accused the singer of rape.
In a blog post, she claimed that the alleged abuse happened in 2003, when she was 18 years old.
Now Carter is suing the women for the accusations made against him.
BACKSTREET BOYS: Kevin Richardson, Brian Littrell, Nick Carter, and Howie Dorough are all known as members of The Backstreet Boys. Photo: Jordan Strauss / NTB
Denies the charges
In the lawsuit, Carter alleges that Ruth and Shuman allegedly engaged in a five-year conspiracy to harass and defame him, which began with a blog post written by Schuman amid the #MeToo movement.
Furthermore, the artist claims that Shuman and her father, Jerome Shuman, should have influenced Ruth to inflate her claims of being abused by him. That’s what Page Six writes.
The Backstreet Boys artist notes that he has not been charged with any of the alleged crimes.
– Carter made no offer to settle and refused to negotiate anything with Schuman or Ruth, not even when they specifically asked for a “low offer,” his lawyers point out in the countersuit.
Claims to have taken advantage of the deceased brother
Carter also accuses Ruth and the Schumans of taking advantage of her brother, Aaron Carter, who died in November 2022.
– Schuman, Jerome and Ruth took advantage of Aaron’s fragile state and family tensions to cloak their defamatory campaign with credibility, relentlessly and repeatedly using Aaron to try to legitimize their frivolous stories, the singer claims.
Carter’s lawyer Michael Holtz says the following about the case:
– As our counterclaim is detailed, Nick has been the target of a malicious and protracted conspiracy. He has never done the outrageous things he has been accused of; in fact, he is the victim of a calculated and concerted disinformation campaign designed to destroy his reputation.
