Lawyers for singer Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys have filed a counterclaim against a woman who claims she was raped by Carter when she was a minor.
In response to a complaint filed in District Court in August, Carter's attorneys filed the counterclaim on January 5.
According to the lawsuit, on Carter's yacht in Florida in 2003, the 15-year-old, who was only known by her initials, was given drink before being sexually assaulted.
Carter's lawyers contended that the two lawsuits "are the culmination of an approximate five-year conspiracy orchestrated by co-conspirators to harass, defame, and extort Carter" in a counterclaim submitted in response to Shannon Ruth's rape allegations.
However, the claimed victim's lawyer, John Kawai, described the counterclaim as "lengthy and convoluted."
In an email on Tuesday, Kawai stated, "Carter's attempts to villainize his victims are far from novel, and our firms look forward to enthusiastically defending our client against Carter's meritless claims."
Carter's legal team did not want to comment, according to an email from the singer's representative on Tuesday.
Carter's legal team contended that the #MeToo movement strengthened the conspiracy.
Carter's lawyers argued, "Persons falsely accused of sexual assault have the right to due process of law and to defend themselves by speaking the truth, just as true victims of sexual assault have the right to seek justice and be heard."
They called the woman "fame and money hungry" and claimed that she used her ruse as Carter's relative to deceive others online. Carter's counterclaim revealed the woman's criminal past.
The accusation was that the woman had initially admitted to law enforcement having consensual intercourse with Carter, but years later she had changed her mind.
In December 2022, Ruth said she was the 17-year-old victim of a rape by Carter, at least according to a lawsuit filed.
Ruth's attorneys filed a move to have the claims dismissed, but a court allowed Carter's attorneys' counterclaim to proceed in February.
The Backstreet Boy recently lost her sister, nearly a year after losing his brother Aaron Carter. He said he is completely heartbroken.
Bobbie Jean was discovered "unresponsive" in her Florida home's toilet on December 23, which led to her death, as the Hillsborough Sheriff's Department revealed to Fox News Digital. "On December 23, 2023, Hillsborough County Fire rescue crews arrived at the home located... in Tampa, and they discovered a woman who later was identified as Bobbie Jean Carter," the statement continued. "She was immediately transported to St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa, where she was declared dead by hospital medical staff at 8:02 a.m."
