Rape accuser Nick Carter claims he is trying to “harass” and “silence” her.

A woman who accused Nick Carter of raping her in 2001 when she was 17, and claims in a new lawsuit that the Backstreet Boy singer’s countersuit is an attempt to “silence” her.

The new filing from Shannon “Shay” Ruth, who accused Carter of raping her during the boy band’s Black & Blue tour, says that Carter’s countersuit – in which he says he was the victim of a “conspiracy” which aimed to “harass, defame and blackmail.” “him” – was filed solely to “harass,” “intimidate,” and silence her.

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“He is attempting to use his wealth and celebrity status to outlive the plaintiff,” Ruth’s lawyers wrote in a Wednesday filing obtained by Rolling Stone. “And all this while hiding behind the role of a ‘victim’ of the ‘#MeToo’ movement and the absurd idea that the plaintiff is only seeking attention and publicity.”

Ruth’s lawyers hope to use Nevada’s anti-SLAPP laws to fend off Carter’s countersuit. The The new filing specifically referenced the language Carter used in his counterclaim, in which he called Ruth “a liar” who “craved attention.” A representative for Carter did not immediately respond Rolling Stone‘s request for comment, and an attorney for Ruth had no further comment.

“Even more blatantly, he refers to himself as an ‘American Icon,’ as if to openly brag to the court and the plaintiff that he is an influential person,” the filing says. “It is precisely these types of claims that Nevada’s anti-SLAPP law is designed to prevent, or at least to require that a plaintiff demonstrate a likelihood of prevailing on the merits in order for their lawsuit to proceed.”

In her original lawsuit, Ruth claimed she lives with autism and cerebral palsy, that Carter, who would have been 21 at the time, gave her a pink drink called “VIP juice” that tasted alcoholic and ordered her to her knees to leave, pulled down his pants and insisted that she perform oral sex on him. She also claimed he explained to her how to proceed even though she was crying.

Ruth, now 39, claims that Carter, who has faced a similar allegation in the past that was not prosecuted, led her to a bed, “pushed her down” and forcibly removed her pants as she fought back. Carter then allegedly attempted to orally mate Ruth when she “begged him to stop,” the lawsuit says Rolling Stone Conditions.

“The last 21 years have been filled with pain, confusion, frustration, shame and self-harm that are a direct result of Nick Carter’s rape,” Ruth said at a recent press conference with her attorney, Mark Boskovich. “Even though I’m autistic and live with cerebral palsy, I don’t think anything has affected me more… than what Nick Carter did to me.”

Carter denied the allegations in a statement from his attorney, who called Ruth’s claims “completely untrue” and “legally baseless.”

“No one should be fooled by a press stunt orchestrated by an opportunistic attorney – there is absolutely no truth to this claim, and we have no doubt the courts will quickly recognize it,” attorney Michael Holtz said at the time.

In Carter’s countersuit from January, the singer is seeking $2.35 million in damages. His legal team accused Ruth of being “manipulated by Melissa Schuman and her father Jerome into making false accusations.”

The lawsuit came after Schuman, a former member of the teen pop group Dream, came forward in 2017 and accused Carter of sexually assaulting her in 2003. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office investigated Schuman’s claim and ultimately declined to file a lawsuit, saying it was outside the 10-year statute of limitations.

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