Nick Carter is being sued for sexual assault and battery by former Dream singer Melissa Schuman.
Nick Carter is being sued for sexual assault and battery by former Dream singer Melissa Schuman
The Backstreet Boys singer, 43, is said in newly-filed court documents to have performed a non-consensual sex act on her in 2003 when she was 18 and he was 22, before allegedly forcing her to do the same.
Papers seen by TMZ also claim Nick then took her virginity even though Melissa, now 38, told him she was saving herself for marriage.
Melissa first accused the singer of raping her at his home in November 2017 – declaring the “Harvey Weinstein allegations” were “a big trigger” for her.
Three months later she filed a report with the Santa Monica Police Department in the hope Nick would face criminal charges, but the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office declined to prosecute because the statute of limitations had expired.
But a California law that went into effect earlier this year revived sexual assault claims and extended the statute of limitations for reporting them.
Nick has repeatedly denied Melissa’s allegations and in February filed a $2.3 million countersuit against her and Shannon Ruth, who in December 2022 sued him for allegedly raping her on a tour bus in 2001 when she was 17.
He said the two women were involved in a “conspiracy” against him.
Nick’s attorney Liane K. Wakayama told TMZ: “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.
“In light of our progress in Nevada, this kind of response is at once both predictable and pathetic. 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.”
Melissa told The New York Post in a statement: “I’ve faced extraordinary backlash for standing up for myself; I am not the first, however my intention is that I am the last.
“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.”
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