Speculation was rife that presidential candidate Francois Fillon was going to withdraw from the race after he postponed a campaign visit to a Paris farm show.
Then he fronted the media.
A defiant Mr Fillon announced he was under formal investigation but again denied the allegations.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, my lawyer has been informed that I will be summoned on March 15th by investigating magistrates to be put under formal investigation. I deny the allegations. I have not misappropriated public funds. I entrusted, as almost a third of politicians do, work to those closest to me because I knew I could count on their trust and their expertise. They helped me, and I will prove it."
Mr Fillon became the Republican candidate late last year after national primaries that attracted four million voters.
For a while, he was the favourite in the race to succeed Francois Hollande as president, until the fake-job allegations emerged.
Mr Fillon's wife was allegedly paid over several years for working as a parliamentary assistant for him and his successor but had no parliamentary pass.
That has raised questions over whether she did the work she was paid for.
Mr Fillon has called the investigation a political assassination and says he is leaving it up to voters to decide his fate.
"Several of my friends in politics, and those who supported me in the primary, and these four million voters, speak of a political assassination. It is, indeed, a political assassination. But through this disproportionate attack, without a known precedent, through the choice of this date, it's not only me they're assassinating, it's the presidential election. I'll leave it up to the French people, because only the popular vote, and not a one-sided procedure, can decide who will be the next president of the republic. I will not give up. I will not withdraw. I will go to the very end, because, beyond just me, it's democracy that's at stake."
Mr Fillon has faced criticism for his decision to stay in the campaign after previously promising to stand down as a candidate if his case was placed under formal investigation.
His foreign-affairs spokesman has resigned from the campaign team, saying Mr Fillon has undermined what he calls the "credibility of politics."
One allied party, the U-D-I, says it is suspending support for his campaign while it considers whether to continue backing him.
Mr Fillon's deputy campaign manager during the primaries, Pierre Danon, admits the pressure is mounting.
"The pressure that he's taking is absolutely atrocious, it's huge, and one can understand that he's considering the case and asking himself. But he saw all his advisers, and the vast majority of the advisers -- and especially, again, the people, the real people, the people from the serious society -- were unanimous, telling him, 'You have to go to the end. We don't have a Plan B. We don't have another solution. And what matters is putting back France on the right trajectory.'"
Mr Fillon has slipped to third in the polls, behind National Front leader Marine le Pen and independent Emmanuel Macron
Ms Le Pen also faces allegations she misused European Union funds, a claim she denies.
Mr Macron says he believes Mr Fillon may be showing signs of being shaken.
"Words have a meaning, and I think, several times this week, Mr Fillon has chosen to use big words. It's rather the sign of a loss of nerve, or the loss of a sense of reality."
Mr Fillon will appear before a judge two days before the deadline for candidates to submit their final applications.
The first round of presidential elections will take place on April the 23rd, before a second round on May the 7th.
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