Backstreet Boys singer Nick Carter is being sued for alleged sexual battery and assault.
Mr Carter, 43, used his “role, status, and power as a well-known singer” to groom, manipulate, and sexually exploit pop star Melissa Schuman, it has been claimed.
Ms Schuman, 38, who was part of US girl band Dream, filed the claim against Mr Carter on Tuesday in Los Angeles.
In the filing, obtained by the PA news agency, she alleged that Mr Carter drugged and assaulted her at his apartment in 2003, when she was 18-years-old.
The pair had been filming teen movie The Hollow together, and Mr Carter had invited her to his Santa Monica apartment with a friend to play video games, the documents stated.
He is then alleged to have made her an alcoholic drink, in which he put “some form of flunitrazepam or a similar drug”.
Ms Schuman claimed that Mr Carter later forced her to masturbate him and forced himself on her, despite numerous objections.
Following the alleged incident she had contracted the sexually transmitted disease HPV, which is known to cause health problems such as cervical cancer, and currently has no cure.
Though Ms Schuman first went public with the claims – noted in the filing – in 2017, in a personal blog post titled “Don’t Worry, I Won’t Tell Anybody”, she told several people about the incident at the time, according to the documents.
She attempted to keep her distance from Mr Carter, but he continued to “intimidate, blame and harass” her, the filing stated.
“Defendant Carter’s conduct exceeded all bounds of decency and is odious and utterly intolerable in a civilized society,” it read.
“Defendant Carter’s conduct, including sexual assault and internet intimidation, caused emotional distress in Plaintiff and this emotional distress was and continues to be severe.”
Ms Schuman has and continues to suffer from mental and emotional problems including depression, anxiety, loss of enjoyment of life, guilt, shame, fear, loneliness, nightmares and PTSD, the filing stated.
The Dream singer has requested a jury trial in the matter and damages to be determined by the court.
Mr Carter’s lawyer, Liane K Wakayama, said: “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.
“A judge in Nevada recently ruled, after reviewing the extensive evidence we laid out, that there are strong grounds for Nick Carter to proceed with his lawsuit against Ms Schuman for plotting to damage, defame and extort Nick, his associates, his friends and his family.”
Ms Wakayama added that “in light of our progress in Nevada, this kind of response is at once both predictable and pathetic” but “this PR stunt won’t shake Nick from his determination to hold Ms Schuman and her co-conspirators to account”.