On December 12, 2007, X17online.com began publishing reports of an affair between San Antonio Spurs star Tony Parker and French model Alexandra Paressant. According to the website, Parker, the basketball playing husband of actress Eva Longoria, reportedly met Paressant at his wedding in July and the two began having a sexual relationship.

Parker instantly denied the report and proceeded to file a lawsuit against X17online.com seeking $40 million in defamation of character damages and other fees.

According to the lawsuit: “This is false. It never happened. And X17 had to know that the story was false, or, at the very least, it had to have entertained serious doubts about the credibility of its supposed source.”

The celebrity gossip website, X17online had published nearly a dozen articles that included accusations of the affair. Not once did they act like there was a doubt the reports could be true, repeatedly referring to Paressant as Tony’s “lover.” Included in those articles were a video from Paressant speaking about Parker, photographs of alleged text messages between the two and an airline ticket, supposedly proving she had visited Parker in San Antonio.

The 25-year-old Parker, who was born in Belgium but grew up in France, won the MVP of the 2007 NBA Finals as the Spurs swept the Cleveland Cavaliers to capture the franchise’s fourth NBA championship. Longoria is an actress who is best known for her role in Desperate Housewives. She met Parker in 2005 and the two quickly began dating. Longoria, who was born and raised in South Texas, also repeatedly denied the affair while saying “Tony has been nothing short of the perfect husband.”

Since the story broke, Paressant’s claims have begun to unravel. According to various reports, Paressant isn’t even a model and has used pictures of other models as her own on her website. Paressant also had a similar incident where she claimed Ronaldinho of Brazilian soccer fame played poorly in the World Cup because he was out partying with Paressant. Ronaldinho denied this and also ended up wanting to sue Paressant.

Though Parker certainly won’t win $40 million (and the couple doesn’t really need it!), x17online and Ms. Paressant will probably learn their lesson!