A settlement has been reached in the legal battle between Ken Cuccinelli for Governor and the Conservative StrikeForce PAC — and it looks like Cuccinelli just hit the lottery.

The settlement will likely serve as a massive warning for conservative PACs that raise money using the names and images of candidates, but spend only a fraction of the money to help them.

But first, if you’re not familiar with the backstory of the lawsuit, I recently wrote about it in the Wall Street Journal:

Ken Cuccinelli, who in 2013 narrowly lost a race for governor of Virginia, filed a lawsuit last year against Conservative StrikeForce PAC. The suit alleges that much of the $2.2 million the group raised in 2013 was brought in by invoking Mr. Cuccinelli’s name, but that the PAC contributed “less than one-half of one percent” of that amount to his campaign. The PAC’s treasurer, Scott B. Mackenzie, wrote to me that the group got involved “at the suggestion of one of Ken Cuccinelli’s top advisers” but that funds “fell short of our expectations and we were unable to spend as much on the race as we would have liked.” In court filings the PAC argues that its activity was protected political speech.

Mr. Cuccinelli, Virginia’s former attorney general, disagrees. “We’re confident we’re going to defeat that argument,” he told me, “because it’s black letter law that the First Amendment doesn’t protect fraud.”

… According to the settlement, here are the spoils:

– Cuccinelli’s gubernatorial campaign will receive $85,000, plus …
– Exclusive use of Conservative StrikeForce’s (CSF) email list
– Exclusive use (i.e., ownership) of their direct mail list
– Non-exclusive use of their telephone donors
– Non-exclusive use of all donors to Conservative Majority Fund (CMF is not a defendant and did not raise money using Cuccinelli’s name, but it is controlled by the same individuals.)
– In the future, the defendants will “cease and desist” use of a candidate’s name or image “upon receipt of a written request from the supported candidate.”

An important footnote: The FEC has declined to act when asked to rule on a similar case. But the Cuccinelli settlement might still have a chilling effect on how PACs behave going forward — and that’s no small thing.

* This post has been updated.

** Note: The author’s wife previously consulted for Ken Cuccinelli, though not on his gubernatorial campaign.