François Fillon is on the defensive again after his party tweeted a caricature with anti-Semitic overtones and a newspaper claimed a mystery benefactor bought him luxury suits worth almost 48,500 euros, reports Sky News.
The French presidential candidate's party, Les Républicains, has said it is launching an investigation after a tweet showed rival Emmanuel Macron with a suit, top hat and hooked nose.
The tweet first went out on Friday, with the party later posting a revised version showing a photo of Mr Macron instead.
Mr Fillon called it "unacceptable" and said he could not "tolerate the party spreading caricatures that use the codes of anti-Semitic propaganda".
Mr Macron also labelled the cartoon - which shows his links to key supporters - "anti-Semitic imagery".
The centrist En Marche! candidate is not Jewish. He used to be employed by the Rothschild investment bank.
Mr Fillon, once the clear favourite to be France's next president, has been embroiled in a scandal over payments to his wife.
He denies she was paid hundreds of thousands of euros for a "fake" parliamentary job and has vowed to fight on despite dwindling public support.
An awkward weekend for Mr Fillon was compounded by newspaper claims he was bought tens of thousands of euros of luxury suits.
Le Journal du Dimanche reported that a mystery benefactor had paid for nearly 48,500-euros worth of clothing from the high-class tailor Arnys since 2012.
It claimed 35,500 euros was paid in cash, most often delivered by a young woman.
But an order for two suits in February was paid for by cheque signed by a "generous friend" who wanted to remain anonymous, the newspaper said.