The latest in a list of charges, Backstreet Boys singer Nick Carter is facing a new lawsuit that alleges the former boy band member sexually assaulted Laura Penly on two occasions while they were involved in a relationship in 2005.
Fled last week in Nevada, the civil complaint alleges the abuse took place when the plaintiff would travel from Oregon to visit the defendant in Los Angeles while she was 19 years and he was 25.
Penly stated that while she had consensual sex with Carter about three separate times, but on one subsequent meeting, after she stated she only wanted to watch a movie, the singer refused to take ‘no’ for an answer and that Carter “dismissed” her refusal, telling her that “the only reason she was there was to have sex.”
The lawsuit states that “Carter then picked plaintiff up off the ground and threw her onto his bed,” held Penly down and forcefully raped her without protection, despite her repeated protests.
According to information obtained by Rolling Stone, the complaint alleges that Nick assaulted Penly again some two months later after he apologized and asked to see her again. Laura claims Carter invited her over while he had two friends present at what she believed was his apartment off Hollywood Boulevard. She alleges he isolated her in a bedroom and raped her a second time.
Not the first time this singer has faced sexual assault allegations, Penly’s legal action is the latest in a series of lawsuits filed against Carter from three other women including former Dream singer Melissa Schuman who, filed a lawsuit two years ago in California, Schuman alleging Carter drugged and raped her at his Santa Monica apartment in 2003, when she was 17.
Calling the allegations “nonsense,” Carter’s attorneys deny the accusations, and in a statement to Rolling Stone, the musician’s lawyers claim all four plaintiffs are “conspirators” putting pressure on Carter during a resurgence in his career linked to the 25th anniversary of the Backstreet Boys’ Millennium album. An allegation the women deny, in her own lawsuit, Penly says she was called to testify at a deposition involving the other accusers, subsequent to which she has experienced ongoing harassment from fans of Carter and the Backstreet Boys.
In a statement to Rolling Stone, Carter’s attorneys, Liane K. Wakayama and Dale Hayes, Jr. said:
“This is just more of the same nonsense from the gang of conspirators and their lawyers who continue to abuse the justice system to try to ruin Nick Carter. It’s drawn from the same predictable playbook – lie in wait for decades until Mr. Carter is celebrating a professional milestone, then hide behind litigation privilege to make utterly false claims in an attempt to inflict maximum damage on Nick and his family,” “Nick does not recall ever even meeting Laura Penly. He certainly never had any romantic or sexual relationship with her. Ever. The person making these claims has a documented history of financial and legal trouble.”
In her lawsuit, Penly also claims Carter infected her with several sexually transmitted diseases, including the human papillomavirus, which she says led to a subsequent Stage 2 cervical cancer diagnosis in August 2005. the accuser says she underwent numerous medical treatments and also has suffered “severe emotional distress, physical anguish, medical issues, intimacy issues, and other complex trauma” linked to the alleged rapes.
In response, Carter’s team said their client was not to blame. “Whatever health challenges she may have faced have absolutely nothing to do with Nick. Not only will we fight this, we will be seeking sanctions against her legal team for enabling this frivolous action.”
Carter also is being sued by Shannon “Shay” Ruth, a woman who alleges Carter sexually assaulted her on a tour bus in February 2001, and Ashley Repp, the accuser who alleges Carter raped her on a yacht in 2003 when she was 15 years old. Repp initially filed as a Jane Doe but later stepped forward with her full identity when she participated in the docuseries Fallen Idols: Nick and Aaron Carter.
Schuman’s California case is set for a trial in Santa Monica in December. Ruth’s and Repp’s claims are set to be heard at a consolidated trial in Nevada scheduled for March 2026. Penly, meanwhile, is seeking compensatory and punitive damages to be decided at trial.
Carter has denied the allegations from Schuman, Ruth and Repp and countersued all three women for defamation. His defamation claim against Repp was tossed out last August and at press time he has not been charged with any crimes related to the allegations.
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Author: Saul Goode
Photo: Joe Telling from Snohomish, USA