New York Times: An unusual $1.6 billion donation bolsters conservatives.

...A new conservative nonprofit group scored a $1.6 billion windfall last year via a little-known donor — an extraordinary sum that could give Republicans and their causes a huge financial boost ahead of the midterms, and for years to come.

The source of the money was Barre Seid, [former "Tripp Lite" power quality products owner], and the donation is among the largest — if not the largest — single contributions ever made to a politically focused nonprofit.

The beneficiary is a new political group controlled by Leonard A. Leo, an activist who has used his connections to Republican donors and politicians to help engineer the conservative dominance of the Supreme Court and to finance battles over abortion rights, voting rules and climate change policy.
...

Daily Beast: New Right-Wing megadonor Barre Seid has sparked huge controversy before

...In 2008, for instance, a New York nonprofit disseminated more than 20 million DVDs featuring a film titled “Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West,” in an apparent effort to tilt that year’s elections toward John McCain and other Republican candidates.
...
His foundation has donated more than $250,000 to the Heartland Institute, a think tank that has been assailed for trying to stir doubt about the existence of climate change.
...

Right-wing dark money gets $1.6 billion donation from one donor

MSNBC