Backstreet Boys member Nick Carter is facing new sexual assault allegations in a lawsuit that claims the singer raped a woman on two occasions while they were involved in a relationship in 2005.
In a civil complaint, filed last week in Nevada, and reviewed by Variety, a woman by the name of Laura Penly accuses Carter of forcing her into sexual acts in 2004 when she was 19 and Carter was 25. She alleges they had consensual sex about three times before Carter became aggressive, and “dismissed” her refusal to have sex, telling her that “the only reason she was there was to have sex.”
Penly claims Carter “failed to use protection” during this altercation and, in turn, failed to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted infections including HPV. She alleges these actions led her to contract cervical cancer later in life.
Elsewhere in the complaint, Penly alleges Carter assaulted her again about two months after the first instance of rape. She says he apologized and asked to see her again, only to isolate her in a bedroom and rape her a second time.
Attorneys for Carter did not immediately return Variety‘s request for comment.
Penly’s lawsuit is the fourth sexual assault lawsuit in a series of legal complaints filed against Carter. In Dec. 2022, Shannon Ruth filed suit against Carter in Clark County, Nevada, alleging that he forced her to perform oral sex on her after a Backstreet Boys concert in 2001. In response, Carter filed a countersuit in Feb. 2023, naming Ruth, Schuman and Schuman’s father as defendants. Carter is seeking $2.5 million in damages with an exact amount to be proven at trial.
Carter is also facing allegations from former Dream singer Melissa Schuman. In her lawsuit filed two years ago in California, Schuman alleged Carter drugged and raped her at his Santa Monica apartment in 2003, when she was 17.
Penly is seeking damages in excess of $15,000 and is demanding a jury trial.
