BOSTON (AP) — A close friend of the Massachusetts House speaker was charged Thursday with concealing work as a lobbyist while having direct contact with the speaker — the first formal charges tying the speaker to allegations he has used his office to help friends.

Richard Vitale, a former accountant for House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi, was paid $60,000 in lobbying fees by ticket brokers interested in changing the state's scalping laws, Attorney General Martha Coakley said. Without disclosing his lobbyist status, Vitale communicated directly with DiMasi and his top lieutenant, Speaker Pro Tempore Thomas Petrolati, before the House passed the bill last year — a violation of lobbying laws, she said. Read more.