A Judge in Las Vegas has blocked Nick Carter’s attempt to countersue one of his rape accusers for defamation.
In August last year, a woman called Ashley Repp came forward with a lawsuit against the former Backstreet Boys member, claiming Nick raped her when she was 15.
She alleged that the incidents happened multiple times on a yacht and once on the back of a tour bus in 2003 when Carter was 23, according to Billboard.
In a statement, Nick’s lawyers called the accusations “ridiculous,” saying they had been investigated and rejected as “meritless” at the time. In January, Carter then countersued her for defamation, and claimed that Repp told him that she was 18 years old and the sex was “consensual”.
However, a judge has now ruled that the countersuit is to be dismissed. At a Las Vegas hearing on Tuesday, Judge Joe Hardy Jr. blocked the attempt and said (via Rolling Stone): “The truth is an absolute defence. Based on Carter’s own judicial admissions, they did have sex. They had sexual relations, and she was a minor.”
Carter was first accused of sexual assault by Shannon Ruth, who filed a civil lawsuit against the singer in 2022. She alleged that the artist raped her in 2001 when she was 17 after a Backstreet Boys concert in Tacoma, Washington. Carter’s attorney responded to the claims, calling them “legally meritless” and “entirely untrue”.
He was also accused of assaulting Melissa Schuman, a former member of Dream, who originally filed a police report in 2017. Carter responded to the allegations, saying he was “shocked and saddened” as he believed their encounter was “consensual”.
He then countersued both Ruth and Schuman two months after the suit was filed for defamation. His legal team also accused Ruth of being “manipulated into making false allegations” by Schuman.
It was around this time that Repp came forward with a lawsuit, accusing the singer of rape.
On Tuesday (August 13), Carter countersued Schuman for defamation for $2.5million (£1.95m), claiming she made the statements about him “with a specific intent to damage Carter’s reputation and interfere with his business opportunities, advantages and contracts,” as per People.
Back in May, Carter also denied the “outrageous” sexual assault claims made against him in a documentary called Fallen Idols: Nick and Aaron Carter.
The project accused the Backstreet Boys singer of assaulting the three women – Ruth, Schuman, and Repp – in the early ‘00s. Carter reportedly declined to take part in the docuseries.
Around that time, his legal team claimed to BBC News in a statement that the women were “spreading falsehoods”, adding: “These are exactly the same outrageous claims that led us to sue this gang of conspirators.
“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,” they continued.
For help, advice or more information regarding sexual harassment, assault and rape in the UK, visit the Rape Crisis charity website. In the US, visit RAINN.
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