Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema has been charged in an extortion case involving a sex tape featuring fellow French international Mathieu Valbuena.
Benzema, 27, was on Thursday (Friday NZT) charged with "complicity in an attempt to blackmail" and conspiring to commit a criminal act, the prosecutor's office in Versailles, outside Paris, said.
The charges carry a prison sentence of at least five years.
Benzema was also banned from meeting Lyon midfielder Valbuena, a legal constraint that puts in question the two players' future involvement in the French national team.
Both were excluded from the French squad named on Thursday for internationals against Germany and England this month.
Benzema's lawyer said the player, a key part of the national team and an important source of goals for Real Madrid, insisted he was innocent.
The player has told investigators he approached Valbuena about the tape on behalf of "a childhood friend".
Benzema spent the night in custody in Versailles after being arrested on Wednesday.
"Karim Benzema has admitted speaking to Valbuena at the request of a childhood friend, who was approached by three blackmailers who were in possession of the sex tape," a source close to the investigation said.
"Benzema said he had agreed with his childhood friend on what he should say so that his team-mate (Valbuena) would negotiate exclusively with him."
Benzema is said to have had a conversation with Valbuena about the sex tape when the French squad met for training on October 5 ahead of friendly internationals.
The three alleged blackmailers, who are all in custody, had first contacted a friend of Benzema's brother seeking to involve the player in their extortion attempt, a source said.
The centre-forward has scored 27 goals in 81 appearances for France and has already notched six league goals this season for Real.
Benzema started his career in his home town of Lyon, the club Valbuena joined this summer.
It is not the first time he has been embroiled in a criminal inquiry.
Last year he and fellow France international Franck Ribery were cleared of accusation that they had slept with an underage prostitute.
AFP