SUNRISE FL – DECEMBER 18: Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys performs during the iHeartRadio Y100 Jingle Ball 2022 at The FLA Live Arena on December 18, 2022 in Sunrise, Florida. Credit: mpi04/MediaPunch /IPX
Singer Nick Carter has filed a countersuit as part of his fight against a recent rape lawsuit, and not only is he going after a woman who claimed he raped her at a 2001 concert, but he is also suing another singer, Melissa Schuman, who made her own allegation about a 2003 alleged rape.
“In an important development in recent American history, the #MeToo movement was born and rightfully created a platform for victims of abuse,” the counterclaim stated. “Unfortunately, some people chose to take advantage of that platform. Those individuals felt that any voice and any accusation, right or wrong, would carry the day because the world was finally listening to accusers. So, in furtherance of their own agenda, these opportunists set out to thrust themselves into the spotlight and destroy innocent lives.”
Shannon “Shay” Ruth sued Carter in December, alleging that when she was 17, he lured her onto his tour bus when The Backstreet Boys were performing in Tacoma, Washington in February 2001. Though she asked for an apple juice, he plied her with an alcohol-infused cocktail with cranberry juice, her complaint said.
“Despite the strange taste, Plaintiff drank the beverage as to not to be rude,” her lawsuit said. Carter then allegedly took her to the bus bathroom and began to abuse her, the complaint alleges.
In the counterclaim, Carter’s team accused Schuman and her father, countersuit co-defendant Jerome Schuman, of recruiting Ruth to make the accusation.
“Ruth was a vulnerable and highly impressionable individual, craving attention and desperate to fit in,” the counterclaim states. “Schuman and Jerome groomed and coached Ruth, coaxing her to inflate her initial claim of being abused at the hands of a third-party, to being physically abused at the specific hands of Carter, and, finally, to being sexually assaulted by Carter.”
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Carter’s attorneys alleged Ruth’s lawsuit was the “culmination of an approximate five-year conspiracy orchestrated by Counter-Defendants to harass, defame and extort Carter,” the complaint said.
Schuman previously made her own allegations of rape against Carter, but prosecutors did not pursue charges because the statute of limitations had expired. Carter always denied the allegations from Schuman and in the countersuit, claimed Schuman intentionally waited until after the statute of limitations had expired to make the allegation.
“When the criminal investigation was reportedly cut short due to the statute of limitations, Schuman, Jerome and their followers exploited the foregoing expected result by falsely claiming that the statute of limitation saved Carter from investigation and prosecution,” the countersuit stated. “Moreover, despite posting her dramatized account of Carter’s alleged assaults in 2017, Schuman did not retain a civil attorney to pursue claims against Carter until October 2020, once again, after it was too late.”
The countersuit complaint said that law enforcement investigations into the abuse claims showed the “inconsistencies” in Schuman’s case.
“Similarly, Ruth has omitted that an investigation was performed in connection with her false claims, that law enforcement expressly advised her of the problems her many inconsistencies created for her case, and that her claims were referred to the prosecutor’s office who declined to file charges against Carter,” the lawsuit said. “Ruth has omitted that an investigation was performed in connection with her false claims, that law enforcement expressly advised her of the problems her many inconsistencies created for her case, and that her claims were referred to the prosecutor’s office who declined to file charges against Carter.”
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The countersuit also claimed the daughter and father also preyed on Nick’s brother Aaron Carter, who has since died. Aaron Carter voiced support for Schuman amid a public and volatile estrangement from his brother.
“Eventually Aaron realized he was being used and manipulated by Counter-Defendants, and, 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,” the counterclaim stated.
