Melissa Schuman has sued Nick Carter for alleged sexual assault and assault, 5 years after Los Angeles County prosecutors declined to press prices in opposition to the Backstreet Boys singer.
Schuman, a former member of 2000s lady group Dream, filed a lawsuit Tuesday accusing Carter of sexually assaulting her in Santa Monica in 2002 when he was 22 and she or he was 18, courtroom paperwork present , reviewed by the Los Angeles Instances.
Within the grievance, Schuman alleges Carter drugged and raped her after she informed him “time and again” that she didn’t need intercourse till marriage. She additionally claims Carter carried out oral intercourse on her “in opposition to her will” and “demanded” that she carry out oral intercourse on him after she refused.
Schuman claims Carter “manipulated and tormented” her after he raped her, texting her “why did you make me do this?” and calling her a “manipulative b-“.
Carter’s lawyer, Liane Ok. Wakayama, mentioned in a press release to TMZ and Rolling Stone that Schuman “has peddled this story for a few years, however her declare was mistaken when she first made it in 2017 — and it nonetheless is.” Wakayama dismissed the lawsuit as a “PR stunt” and accused Schuman of holding Carter “by the hand to wreck, defame and blackmail him”.
In a press release to the New York Submit, Schuman mentioned: “I’ve confronted extraordinary backlash for standing up for myself; I’m not the primary, however my intention is to be the final.”
“It’s time for highly effective minds within the music trade to get the message that they will not afford to allow and shield sexual predators,” Schuman continued. “I struggle to make the music trade a safer place to work and carry out.”
In 2018, Schuman informed the Santa Monica Police Division that Carter raped her, however prosecutors selected to not pursue the case as a result of the statute of limitations on the alleged crime expired in 2013. Schuman notes in her new lawsuit that she is now “in a position for the primary time in over a decade” to take authorized motion in opposition to Carter as a result of the statute of limitations for grownup sexual assault survivors opened this yr.
Carter had beforehand denied Schuman’s allegations in 2017 after she claimed in a weblog put up that “he was adamant and refused to take my no for a solution” when he raped her.
“He wasn’t listening,” she wrote within the weblog put up. “He didn’t care.”
On the time, Carter mentioned he was “shocked and saddened” by Schuman’s allegations, claiming that Schuman “by no means expressed” to him that what occurred between them was “not consensual”.
Schuman isn’t the one girl who has accused Carter of sexual assault.
In December, Shannon “Shay” Ruth filed a civil sexual harassment lawsuit alleging Carter assaulted her and contaminated her with HPV on a Backstreet Boys tour bus when he was 21 and she or he was 17. Carter later countered Ruth, calling her “a liar.” ”
Schuman is asking for unspecified damages and “another authorized safety that the courtroom might discover applicable”.
“Carter used his function, standing and energy as a widely known singer to realize entry to, groom, manipulate, exploit and sexually assault Schuman,” the grievance reads. “Consequently… Schuman suffered extreme emotional, bodily and psychological strains.”
