Backstreet Boys singer Nick Carter is currently fighting back against allegations of sexual assault and rape made against him by two women.
The first set of allegations goes back to an incident that reportedly took place 15 years ago between Carter and former Dream singer Melissa Schuman.
Carter's legal team insists the women are both taking advantage of the #MeToo movement and making false claims. He further accuses the women of a five-year-long conspiracy against him.
Carter's team also claims that he has lost at least $2.3 million in business opportunities as a result of the allegations against him.
In 2017, Schuman accused Carter of raping her in the early 2000s.
Schuman made the allegations on her blog. She wrote that she and Carter were working together on a music project when he asked her to come to his home. She consented to kissing him, but Carter then allegedly began performing oral sex on her against her wishes.
Schuman says that she was a virgin at the time and told Carter she did not want to have sex, but he forced himself on her despite that.
Shannon Ruth also accused Carter of assault, making her claim in December 2022.
Ruth insists that she was invited onto Carter's bus after a Backstreet Boys concert in 2001. She also says that Carter gave her alcohol against her will.
Carter insists that he has never met Ruth at all.
Carter additionally accused Schuman and her father of taking Ruth, "a vulnerable and highly impressionable individual, craving attention and desperate to fit in," under their wing to wage the campaign against him.
The suit also accuses the family of taking advantage of Carter's younger brother Aaron Carter, who died in November 2022.
"The Schumans' timing couldn't have been better since, at the time, Aaron was addicted to drugs, battling serious mental health issues, and engaged in a misguided campaign of retaliation against Carter and other members of his family who were worried about Aaron and pushing him to seek professional help."
The suit continues, "Schuman, Jerome, and Ruth exploited Aaron's fragile condition and family stresses to cloak their defamatory campaign with credibility, relentlessly and repeatedly using Aaron to try to legitimize their frivolous tales."
The suit also insists that Aaron Carter had made amends with his brother in the months preceding his death.
"In the months leading up to his recent death, Aaron not only apologized to Carter for his involvement in the Counter-Defendants' smear campaign, but publicly stated that Schuman and Ruth were liars."
