Melissa Schuman of Dream has filed a lawsuit against Nick Carter for sexual assault and battery

Nick Carter | Melissa Schuman | Backstreet Boys | Dream: Former Dream singer Melissa Schuman is suing Nick Carter for sexual battery and assault.

In court documents acquired by TMZ on Tuesday, Schuman claimed that the Backstreet Boys member had forced her to engage in oral sex with him in 2003, when she was 18 and he was 22.

She asserted that Carter, now 43, continued to steal her virginity despite her assurances to him that she was reserving herself for marriage.

Schuman, now 38, claimed "the Harvey Weinstein allegations" were "a big trigger" for her when she first accused the pop star of raping her at his home in November 2017.

She reported Carter to the Santa Monica Police Department in February of the following year in the hopes that he would be charged with a crime.

However, because the statute of limitations had passed, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office decided against filing charges.

The statute of limitations for reporting sexual assault was extended by a California law that took effect earlier this year, reviving the accusations.

In February, Carter filed a countersuit against Schuman and Shannon Ruth, who had previously sued Carter in December 2022 for allegedly raping Ruth on a tour bus in 2001 when she was 17 years old. Carter has always refuted Schuman's claims of nonconsensual sexual contact.

The boy band singer alleged in his countersuit for slander and extortion that the two ladies were part of a "conspiracy" against him.

After Schuman filed a lawsuit, Carter's lawyer, Liane K. Wakayama, issued a statement to Page Six saying, "Melissa Schuman has been peddling this tale for many years, but her allegation was false when she first made it back in 2017 — and it still is."

The attorney said, "A Nevada judge recently ruled that there are strong grounds for Nick Carter to proceed with his lawsuit against Ms. Schuman for conspiring to harm, defame, and extort Nick, his associates, his friends, and his family after reviewing the extensive evidence we laid out."

This kind of attitude, the lawyer observed, "is at once both predictable and pathetic in light of our progress in Nevada." However, Nick will remain steadfast in his resolve to hold Ms. Schuman and her accomplices accountable for the tremendous pain and suffering their extortionate behaviour has caused.

"I've faced extraordinary backlash for standing up for myself," Schuman said in a statement to The Washington Post. "I am not the first, but my intention is that I am the last."

It's time for influential people in the music industry to understand that they cannot continue to support and encourage sexual abusers, she continued. I'm working to make the music business a safer place to operate in.