Nick Carter’s Accuser Testified She ‘Did Not Remember’ 146 Times During Deposition, Pop Star Claims
Nick Carter slammed his sexual assault accuser Shannon Ruth for attempting to portray herself as a victim as he fought to have her lawsuit dismissed, In Touch can exclusively reveal.
According to court documents obtained by In Touch, Nick, 44, and his legal team trashed Shannon over her claims she was assaulted by him in 2001.
In 2022, Shannon sued Nick, claiming he assaulted her on a tour bus after a Backstreet Boys concert in Washington more than 20 years prior.
Shannon, who said she is autistic, claimed Nick ordered her to perform oral sex on him in the bus bathroom.
She claimed he took her to his bed where he continued to assault her. She said she was a virgin at the time of the incident and contracted HPV following the encounter. Nick denied the allegations.
He claimed Shannon conspired with a second accuser, Melissa Schuman, and Melissa’s father to extort a settlement from him over false claims.
The pop star sued Shannon, Melissa and Melissa’s father for millions in damages. Nick asked a Las Vegas judge to toss the claims brought by Shannon.
“Desperate for her two minutes of fame, [Shannon] appeared at a press conference the day she filed her Complaint against Carter to portray herself as a victim who was raped when she was an autistic minor in February 2001,” his lawyer said. “[Shannon’s] goal was simple – gain as much attention as possible in hopes that Carter would be canceled. For a brief moment, it worked. ABC canceled the Backstreet Boys’ Christmas special, A Very Backstreet Holiday, and Carter was left fighting for his innocence and his family.”
The lawyer added, “Now, over a year later, Carter has obtained all of the evidence necessary to prove that he has been telling the truth all along – he did not rape Ruth or anyone else for that matter.”
Nick said Shannon said she “did not know” to questions over 100 times during her deposition.
His lawyer said, “At her deposition, [Shannon] was asked to provide information about the alleged rape, but she was unable to provide any details aside from what her lawyers wrote for her in her complaint and interrogatory responses. In fact, [Shannon] testified approximately 146 times that she 'did not remember' and 64 times that she 'did not know.' When [Shannon] did provide specific details, her testimony proved to be completely fabricated without any evidentiary support.”
Nick’s motion added, ‘Specifically, [Shannon] testified that her best friend at the time, Eleanor Brewer, would be able to corroborate her story since they attended the concert together and knew that [Shannon] was diagnosed with HPV in the fall of 2001 because Eleanor accompanied [Shannon] to a Washington clinic. Eleanor, however, testified that none of that was true and that she had never attended any medical appointment with [Shannon]. Importantly, the evidence confirms that [Shannon] tested negative for HPV based on her own medical records.”
“Eleanor also testified that the first time she learned that [Shannon] was claiming she was raped was when [Shannon] reached out to her in 2020 wanting her to testify against Carter,” the motion added.
Nick said the reason Shannon was “unable to remember or know details of the alleged rape is because the evidence confirms that it would have been a factual impossibility.”
His lawyer noted, “From security guards to fans, nine different witnesses all testified that the Backstreet Boys immediately left the concert venue that evening. Amazingly, just days after the February 2001 concert, a fan posted a review on the Backstreet Boys’ fan site detailing her experience leaving the concert early and following the tour buses on the highway to the Four Seasons Hotel in downtown Seattle, Washington.”
“Soon after arriving at the Four Seasons, Carter was spotted exiting his tour bus and heading into the hotel. It is therefore a factual impossibility for Carter to have stayed at the Tacoma Dome after the concert to sign autographs, then invite [Shannon] onto his tour bus and engage in what she claims was a protracted rape that first took place in the bathroom and then in the bedroom,” he added.
Shannon opposed the motion to dismiss her claims and said more discovery needed to be conducted.
Her lawyer said about Shannon's deposition, “[Nick’s] team took advantage of [Shannon’s] developmental disabilities and attempted to trick her with the questions that were posed, including a question which asked [Shannon] to admit that she was not truly sexually assaulted by Nick. This question was phrased in such a way to intentionally confuse [Shannon], who [Nick’s] team knew had difficulty understanding certain questions that were asked of her.”
She also disputed the claim that Eleanor's testimony did not back up her story.
A judge denied Nick's motion for summary judgment this week and ruled the case will move forward.
"Nearly two years after making her outrageous claims at a press conference, Shannon Ruth has still not provided any evidence that she has ever even met Nick Carter. That’s not surprising, because the timeline provided by numerous witnesses show her story to be physically impossible. We have the strongest confidence in our case," Liane Wakayama, Nick Carter's attorney, told In Touch following the decision in court this week.
As In Touch first reported, Nick filed a new lawsuit against Melissa seeking $2.5 million in damages earlier this month.
