What Has Nick Carter Been Accused of? All the Allegations Against the Backstreet Boys Singer

Nick Carter was accused of sexual assault by three women between 2017 and 2023, though he has continued to refute the accusations

Nick Carter has come under scrutiny in the last few years as he has been embroiled in allegations of sexual assault by three women.

The Backstreet Boys star was first accused of rape in 2017 by singer Melissa Schuman who alleged that the singer assaulted her when she was 18 and he was 22. Though Carter refuted the claims, he was again accused of rape in August 2023 when a plaintiff known as A.R. filed a lawsuit against him following an incident that took place in 2003.

One of Carter’s former fans, Shannon Ruth, filed a lawsuit against the singer, accusing him of sexual battery in December 2022. Like the other two women, Ruth alleged that she was a virgin at the time of the incident and that she contracted HPV after.

"This claim about an incident that supposedly took place more than 20 years ago is not only legally meritless but also entirely untrue,” Michael Holtz, an attorney for Carter, told PEOPLE in a statement at the time.

He added, "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."

Now, Carter’s alleged victims are speaking out in the Investigation Discovery docuseries Fallen Idols: Nick and Aaron Carter.

From what they accused him of to how he’s responded, here’s everything to know about the allegations against Nick Carter.

What has Nick Carter been accused of?

In November 2017, Carter was accused by Schuman of rape. The former member of the girl group Dream detailed on her personal blog that when she was 18 and Carter was 22, he invited her to his house during a day off from a movie they were shooting and took her to the bathroom, where they started kissing.

She alleged that he unbuttoned her pants and performed oral sex on her before leading her to his bedroom, where he allegedly forced himself on her, despite her insistence that she was a virgin and wanted to save herself for marriage.

“He was relentless, refusing to take my no’s for an answer. He was heavy, too heavy to get out from under him,” she wrote. “Then I felt it, he put something inside of me. I asked him what it was and he whispered in my ear once more, ‘It’s all me baby.' ”

Carter refuted her claims in a statement to PEOPLE, saying he was “shocked” and “saddened” by the accusations.

“Melissa never expressed to me while we were together or at any time since that anything we did was not consensual,” he said. “We went on to record a song and perform together, and I was always respectful and supportive of Melissa both personally and professionally.”

Though Schuman was unable to charge Carter at the time of her initial accusations due to California’s previous 10-year statute of limitations, she filed a lawsuit in April 2023 after the law changed earlier that year.

In December 2022, Carter was sued by Ruth, who accused him of sexual assault. She alleged that she was in an autograph line for the Backstreet Boys after a Tacoma, Wash., show in 2001 when Carter invited her into his tour bus.

Ruth added that the singer allegedly offered her a “VIP juice,” which she thought contained alcohol — though he said it was just cranberry juice — and took her into his bathroom, where he allegedly demanded she perform oral sex on him. The assault then continued in his bedroom, Ruth claimed.

Ruth added that she was also a virgin at the time and contracted HPV following the interaction. Carter’s lawyer denied the accusations in a statement to PEOPLE.

A third woman, who goes by the initials A.R. in her lawsuit, accused Carter of rape, alleging there were multiple incidents that occurred when she was 15. She detailed one in which Carter allegedly sexually abused her on a yacht, claiming he “instructed” her to keep it “secret.”

In a separate instance, which also took place on a yacht, she claimed Carter "knowingly provided alcohol and drugs" to her and "enticed three other men" to watch him "engaging in sexual intercourse with then-minor A.R. from a vantage point of an outside window in the cabin of Carter's yacht."

Like Ruth, A.R. claimed that Carter infected her with HPV. She said she told her mother about the incident and reported it to the Southern York County law enforcement in Pennsylvania at the time. At the time of her lawsuit, she was seeking $15,000 in damages.

In a statement to PEOPLE, Carter’s lawyer, Dale Hayes, called the allegations “false” and said he was “pleased” with the timing of the filing so they could argue the “co-conspirators” at the same time.

“When A.R. first accused Nick Carter almost two decades ago, authorities listened and thoroughly investigated – and then informed A.R. that her allegations were meritless," he said. “And now she’s at it yet again. But repeating the same false allegations in a new legal complaint doesn’t make them any more true. Nick is looking forward to the evidence being presented and the truth about these malicious schemes coming to light.”

What has Nick Carter said about the accusations?

Carter has denied all of the allegations and has pursued countersuits against the women. After Ruth filed her lawsuit in December 2022, Carter responded with a countersuit filed in February 2023 against both her and Schuman.

He alleged that the two women used the #MeToo movement to launch a five-year conspiracy to "defame and vilify Carter and otherwise ruin his reputation for the purposes of garnering attention and fame and/or extorting money from Carter," according to the suit obtained by PEOPLE.

The countersuit described Ruth and Schuman as “opportunists” who set out to “destroy innocent lives” as they reportedly cost Carter more than $2.3 million in business losses after the December accusation.

Carter also claimed that he had never met Ruth before and that Schuman and her father “groomed” Ruth, who has autism and cerebral palsy, as "a vulnerable and highly impressionable individual, craving attention and desperate to fit in."

Ruth then motioned to have Carter’s countersuit dismissed, but a month later, a Nevada judge ruled that the countersuit may continue.

Where do the lawsuits against Nick Carter stand today?

As of August 2023, a Las Vegas judge ruled that Carter could continue his defamation countersuit against Schuman, citing sufficient evidence to move forward. In May 2024, Carter filed a motion requesting a hearing and asking the court to grant him a summary judgment on Ruth's claims "for sexual battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligent infliction of emotional distress."

Carter claimed it was “factually impossible” for him to have assaulted Ruth, and provided evidence disputing her claim that the incident occurred after she waited in an autograph line. The singer’s team alleged that no such line existed, while Susan Riggs, a friend of the band and Carter at the time, testified that she "personally observed Carter exit the venue, board his tour bus and immediately drive away.”

Additionally, Carter’s lawyers claimed that Ruth was unable to recall several details including details about the alleged “VIP juice” and how much time passed between when she came on to the bus and allegedly went to the bathroom with Carter.

"Carter is entitled to summary judgment in this case and should not be forced to proceed to trial in a matter where the plaintiff has failed to produce a shred of reliable evidence to support her claims," the filing argued.

What have others said about the allegations against Nick Carter?

Carter’s alleged victims spoke out in the ID documentary Fallen Idols: Nick and Aaron Carter, which aired in late May 2024. Kaya Jones, Carter’s ex-girlfriend from the early naughts and a former member of the Pussycat Dolls, joined them, stating that she believed Schuman’s accusations.

She shared in the documentary that she reached out to Schuman after her 2017 accusation.

“Nick Carter was my boyfriend when I was in the Pussycat Dolls, and I saw the very detailed allegation about Nick and the response,” Jones said in the documentary. “It bothered me. Because it was discrediting this girl [Schuman]. So I wanted to hear what Melissa had to say.”

Jones added that she tweeted a warning to Carter after Schuman spoke up in 2017 that read, “Don’t lie Nick. I’m no longer keeping your secrets.”

“I saw a young woman trying to speak and someone who thought he had more power and authority try to shut her up. I tweeted that,” she said. “It was my way of saying, ‘Don’t push it.’ because he knows what I know. He knows why I left him. And so do I believe that something horrific happened to that girl? Yes. Yes I do.”

Carter’s attorney shared in a statement to PEOPLE that the claims in the documentary were “outrageous.”

"These are exactly the same outrageous claims that led us to sue this gang of conspirators," Hayes said. "Those cases are working their way through the legal system now, and, based on both the initial court rulings and the overwhelming evidence, we have every belief that we will prevail and hold them accountable for spreading these falsehoods.”

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