The Massachusetts Republican Party settled a lawsuit tied to work done by an outside marketing firm during the 2022 election but quickly found itself entangled in new cash and legal woes just ahead of the November election, according to a letter obtained by the Herald.

MassGOP Chair Amy Carnevale told Republican State Committee members that the organization agreed to pay $400,000 over three years to Mittcom, a Needham-based company, for myriad work during the 2022 election, including a “substantial portion” on Geoff Diehl’s unsuccessful gubernatorial bid.

But just as Carnevale touted the agreement in a Friday evening letter, she also disclosed that regulators at the Office of Campaign and Political Finance had called to request that the MassGOP disgorge $74,000 in allegedly illegal contributions it had received during the 2022 election cycle.

“We are unclear why these impermissible contributions were not discovered or reported to us earlier. The timing of this notification just days before the general election is also troubling from an election interference perspective. A meeting with OCPF for more information has been requested and we will keep you updated,” Carnevale said in the letter.

A spokesperson for the Office of Campaign and Political Finance declined to comment on the MassGOP matter, citing state law that prevents the office from directly discussing potential legal reviews.

But the agency is not likely to ask the party to cough up the cash or refer the case to Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s Office before Nov. 5 because of a self-imposed blackout period that prevents it from settling cases 120 days before an election, according to the office’s regulations. The agency’s rules also allow it to investigate a case for up to three years after a relevant election.

Carnevale wrote that the request from state regulators — which she said was made over the phone roughly two weeks ago — was a “decidedly atypical approach” taken just as the party is spending cash to support local Republican candidates up and down the ballot.

And in an interview with the Herald Saturday afternoon, Carnevale said the looming threat of paying the penalty has already influenced spending decisions at the state party, which reported only $133,698 cash in its state campaign account as of Oct. 1.

“Certainly learning about this penalty a month before the election did influence some of our final spending plans,” she said in a phone call. “It did, at the same time, really kind of ramp us up to schedule some additional fundraising calls and to try to raise a little bit more money, which, frankly, we were successful in raising.”

Carnevale said state regulators have broken down the contributions that they determined were illegal and party officials plan “to go line by line with them.”

Some of the $74,000, she said, is related to a contribution by former Sen. Dean Tran, a convicted felon, to the state party when he was a candidate for federal office.

“One question I’ll have with that payment is could it be as simple as we need to move that contribution from the state account to the federal account? I think they’ll probably tell us no, but certainly I’ll make that case,” Carnevale said.

The settlement with Mittcom, a marketing agency run by radio veteran Bruce Mittman, brought to a close a more than year-long saga involving decisions made under the MassGOP’s former chairman, Jim Lyons.

Mittcom’s lawsuit alleged Lyons hired the company to provide a range of marketing services on behalf of the party, including developing, designing, and producing advertisements for Republican candidates, ballot committees, and other campaigns in the runup to the November 2022 state elections.

“A substantial portion of the work supported the Diehl for Governor campaign,” Carnevale wrote in her letter.

As the lawsuit moved forward, Carnevale said officials discovered Lyons had “directly authorized hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments to Mittcom for its services with no formal contracts and scant documentation.”

David Rich, a partner at the law firm Todd & Weld who represents Mittcom, said the company “is pleased” to have settled the dispute with the MassGOP in an “amicable manner.”

“The company very much appreciates the MassGOP’s leadership stepping up and settling the case in a way that results in Mittcom being paid in full for its efforts, albeit over time and in such a way that allows for the MassGOP to continue to carry out its mission,” Rich said in a statement to the Herald.

Carnevale also argued that settling with Mittcom would end up saving the party money compared to the legal costs associated with a trial, where she said Lyons would have testified that “he authorized the services provided by Mittcom and promised full payment.”

Lyons — who took issue with several other parts of Carnevale’s letter describing payments to a security services group and state campaign finance regulators — contends he tried to set up a meeting with Mittcom and the MassGOP to settle outstanding invoices.

In an email dated Feb. 6, 2023, Lyons told Carnevale that Mittcom “has some outstanding invoices due.”

“Bruce (Mittman) will be calling to set up a meeting. If you want me there please let me know,” Lyons wrote in the email, a copy of which he provided to the Herald.

In an interview with the Herald Saturday morning, Lyons criticized Carnevale’s decision to settle the Mittcom case almost two years after the offer to sit down.

“Rather than meet with me and Mittman to review it, she spends $125,000 in legal fees, approximately, and then settles the case for $400,000 without talking to the people who are involved,” he said. “She has no idea what went on, and all she is doing is coming out and continuing to disparage my reputation by sending a letter out on Oct. 25 basically calling me a criminal.”

In her interview with the Herald, Carnevale said legal fees associated with the Mittcom case actually amounted to roughly $20,000, Lyons was already suing the state party when he offered to broker a sit-down, and she was already directly in touch with Mittcom in an attempt to sort out invoices.

“We were under active litigation with Jim Lyons at that time, which certainly complicated any kind of discussions with him about finances. So instead, we took the approach of trying to negotiate directly with the vendor,” she said.