Nick Carter Claims Accuser Shannon Ruth Defrauded Assault Survivors With Fake Emergency Surgery Story
Nick Carter accused one of the women suing him for alleged sexual assault of defrauding sexual assault survivors with a “fake emergency surgery" but she denies the claim, In Touch can exclusively reveal.
According to court documents obtained by In Touch, Nick, 44, dropped the bombshell as part of his effort to dismiss the claims brought by Shannon Ruth.
In her lawsuit, Shannon accused the pop star of assaulting her on a tour bus in 2001. The accuser said she attended a Backstreet Boys concert in Washington. In his recent filing, Nick said “additional evidence has surfaced to further confirm” Shannon’s “dishonest and fraudulent behavior.” He said that Alexa Nikolas, an actress who has been an advocate for abuse survivors, operated a forum for survivors of sexual assault that Shannon was a member for a period of time.
Nick's legal team deposed Alexa, 32, earlier this year where she spoke about Shannon.
“While part of this group, [Shannon] or others on behalf of [Shannon], began sharing fundraiser links in response to [Shannon’s] assertions that she needed urgent health surgery and a biopsy and may be suffering from thyroid cancer," the filing read. “[Shannon] and her friends pressured the members of the group into donating, and Alexa testified that [Shannon] herself expressed disappointment that people had not given her more money."
“However, Alexa eventually learned that the money donated to [Shannon] was not going to her medical expenses, but instead were being spent on [Shannon’s] travel expenses.”
“Alexa specifically uncovered receipts showing trips to hotels conveniently next to [Shannon’s] attorney’s office in California and where her friend was taking the bar exam in the same time frame as her ‘surgery’ was to be taking place,” the motion continued.
“Apparently, [Shannon] claimed to not want the money coming directly to her because she did not want [Nick] to know about it,” Nick’s lawyer said.
Nick claimed that once Alexa became aware of this “she confronted [Shannon] about it and began asking more questions about what was happening with the donated funds. Shortly afterward, [Shannon] disappeared and ceased responding to any of Alexa’s inquires. [Shannon] eventually resurfaced and was apologetic and admitted she misused the donated funds and promised to repay the donors. Despite that promise, [Shannon] never repaid the funds she fraudulently obtained.”
The singer’s lawyer ended, “[Shannon] therefore defrauded the very ‘sisterhood’ community of sexual assault victims in which she claims to be part of based on a factually impossible sexual assault by Nick Carter.”
Shannon's legal team disputed the claims. Her team told In Touch, "These accusations are false. Ms. Ruth had an important surgery and has the medical records to prove it. Ms. Ruth used the funds that were raised for her surgery to travel to Stanford Hospital where the surgery took place. Ms. Ruth has the receipts to prove it. The idea Ms. Ruth defrauded survivors is blatantly false. This is simply a tactic to distract from the real issue in this case; whether Mr. Carter sexually assaulted Ms. Ruth."
In her lawsuit, Shannon, who said she is autistic, said she was invited to hang out with Nick after the show in 2001. She said while on the bus Nick forced her to perform oral sex in a bathroom and continued to assault her in the bedroom. The accuser said she contracted HPV following the encounter with Nick. The singer denied all allegations of wrongdoing.
He accused Shannon of working with his other sexual assault accuser, Melissa Schuman, and Melissa’s father, to concoct lies in an effort to extort a settlement from him. Nick filed a countersuit against Shannon, Melissa and Melissa’s father seeking millions in damages.
His lawyer said, “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.”
The attorney 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.”
In a recent motion, Nick claimed that Shannon said she “did not know” to questions asked at a recent 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."
Nick also said Shannon testified that her best friend in 2001, Eleanor, would corroborate her story. The singer said Eleanor did not confirm the claims. “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,” his filing read.
Nick's motion for summary judgment was denied by the court. The judge ruled Shannon's lawsuit can proceed.
