CMR is the leading provider of funding and management support for small to medium-sized businesses and entrepreneurs 

Last Thursday, The Atlantic published a heart-wrenching story about an 11-month-old child who died of measles. Written in the second person from the perspective of a mother whose two unvaccinated children fell ill with the disease, the story is rich with personal detail;

"You plant her on the couch with a blanket and put Bluey on the TV while she drifts in and out of sleep..." 

"While the kids are napping, you tap a list of your daughter’s symptoms into Google and find a slew of diseases that more or less match up..."

"Her cough wracks her whole body, rounding her delicate bird shoulders. She does not sleep well. And as you lift up her pajama top to check her rash one morning, you see that her breathing is labored, shadows pooling between her ribs when she sucks in air." 

Turns out, NONE OF THAT HAPPENED. The Atlantic's Elizabeth Bruenig simply made it up, leading to mass confusion.

As Laura Hazard Owen of NiemanLab - who initially busted Bruenig - writes:

When I initially read Bruenig’s story, I was stunned: An Atlantic staff writer’s unvaccinated child had died of measles in the 2020s, and now she was writing about it? At the end of Bruenig’s piece, though, there’s an editor’s note: “This story is based on extensive reporting and interviews with physicians, including those who have cared directly for patients with measles.” That was the point when I sent a gift link to my mom group: “as far as I can tell this piece is fiction. What do we think about this choice? I am very conflicted!!!” My conflict stemmed from my concern that, though the piece was heavily researched, it was not a true story. I wondered if the key people whose minds might be changed by it — people who don’t vaccinate their kids — would brush it off as fiction, or fake.

Following the publication, two journalists reached out to Owen to let her know that they were similarly confused, as there "was not an editor's note/disclaimer on the piece at all." 

What's more, The Atlantic's own spokesperson told one of the journalists: "This is based on a mother's real account," - after which the outlet added a disclaimer. 

To +1 @laurahazardowen

I've also seen PDF of Atlantic piece on measles as first posted.

a/ Originally it had no editor's note

b/ PR rep initially told reporter (in note I've seen) "this is based on a mother's real account."

If Atlantic was confused, why wouldn't readers be? https://t.co/oWFlaktBWe

— David Folkenflik (@davidfolkenflik) February 19, 2026

The comments section at The Atlantic is full of similarly confused readers: 

To clarify - The Atlantic published a story about a child dying of measles.

Without notifying its readers the story was largely a work of fiction.

The only added an editor's note after other journalists started asking them about it. https://t.co/cgWdlt0KjS

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) February 19, 2026

Of course, some Harvard douche who doesn't disclose that his own work was mentioned in The Atlantic 'immediately recognized the article as hypothetical.' Great job Stuart! 

I don't understand how anyone would have not immediately recognized the article as hypothetical -- it's in the second person! Obviously none of this has happened to me as the reader, so obviously it's a way of storytelling.

— Stuart Buck (@stuartbuck1) February 19, 2026

 

Authored by Larry Sand via American Greatness,

Employees of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have been busy lately, working to fulfill their mandate to remove undocumented immigrants.

Perhaps the most controversial aspect of ICE’s activities is its alleged presence in public schools across the nation.

But is ICE actually going into schools?

Absolutely not.

While there are a few reports of parents being detained at bus stops near schools and images of ICE agents tackling people on school grounds, they are not actually entering the schools.

Tricia McLaughlin, the Homeland Security Department’s assistant secretary for public affairs, explains that agents’ actions in and around schools are intended to protect children.

“ICE is not going to schools to arrest children—we are protecting children. Criminals are no longer able to hide in America’s schools to avoid arrest. The Trump administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement and instead trusts them to use common sense.”

McLaughlin adds, “An arrest might be made at school if a dangerous illegal alien felon were to flee into a school or a child sex offender is working as an employee. But this has not happened.”

Nonetheless, teachers are organizing their students to battle ICE.

As reported by Erika Sanzi, director of communications at Defending Education, teachers in Minnesota have been coordinating student protests on social media.

“There is nothing organic about these events, and despite claims to the contrary, they are almost never spontaneous expressions of student speech. They are basically field trips without the parent permission slip,” Sanzi said.

In Oregon, a video shows kindergarten students participating in a protest, and numerous schools nationwide have preemptively canceled classes so students could protest.

The teachers’ unions have also seized on ICE’s alleged misdeeds to indoctrinate students.

According to materials obtained by Defending Education, the United Teachers Los Angeles gave a presentation last year titled “Preparing for ICE at Your School” that urged its members to engage in political activism and suggested using school resources to thwart ICE operations.

The UTLA documents guide educators on how to resist the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration and urge parents and teachers to collaborate on resistance efforts. It is part of the union’s broader efforts to “build a comprehensive response to immigration enforcement.”

One slide shared with educators reads, “The fight is far from over. We need to keep fighting together!” Another slide titled “What can you do?” instructs educators on how to respond to ICE operations.

Ron Gochez, a teacher at Dr. Maya Angelou Community High School in Los Angeles, a winner of the California Teachers Association “Human Rights Award,” and a spokesman for Unión del Barrio, a Chicano Marxist revolutionary political organization, is at the forefront of the anti-ICE movement in L.A.

During a recent ICE protest in Los Angeles, Gochez told his compadres, “Don’t forget where you’re standing. This is South Central Los Angeles. They (ICE) are not the only ones with guns in this city. Don’t forget that. And I don’t say that because I’m calling for violence; I’m saying that because the people have every right to defend themselves against masked, unidentified gunmen. The people have every right to defend themselves.”

Revolutionary activities are hardly new to Gochez. In August 2024, a UTLA meeting focused on “How to be a teacher & an organizer… and NOT get fired,” during which Gochez outlined stealth methods for indoctrinating his students. He described transporting busloads of students to an anti-Israel rally during the school day without arousing suspicion.

“A lot of us that have been to those (protest) actions have brought our students. Now, I don’t take the students in my personal car,” Gochez said. Then, referring to the Los Angeles Unified School District, he explained, “I have members of our organization who are not LAUSD employees. They take those students, and I just happen to be at the same place and the same time with them.”

Not surprisingly, the National Education Association aligns with various revolutionary groups, including the Sunrise Movement, which is funded by several left-wing billionaires, including George Soros. The group began with a focus on environmental issues but is now dedicated to virtually every radical proposition imaginable, with a particular emphasis on brainwashing students and organizing within schools.

In January, the NEA, under the guise of protecting children, blasted out an anti-ICE message across various social media platforms, saying, “As thousands of ICE agents carry out aggressive enforcement in Minnesota, hundreds of teachers, counselors, parents, school staff, activists, and union leaders are organizing and showing up in powerful ways—from delivering groceries and schoolwork to organizing solidarity actions and mass protests calling for ICE to leave schools and neighborhoods.”

Pushback against the blatant propaganda is mounting, however.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott declared that protests should be considered unlawful. The state education agency has warned that it could impose sanctions and investigate schools that facilitate “inappropriate political activism.”

“Schools and staff who allow this behavior should be treated as co-conspirators and should not be immune for criminal behavior,” Abbott told reporters.

In Florida, the state’s Education Commissioner, Anastasios Kamoutsas, said schools have a responsibility to ensure that protests do not disrupt school operations and suggested that discipline would be warranted for staff who facilitate or encourage protests during classroom hours.

“We will not tolerate educators encouraging school protests and pushing their political views onto students, especially ones that disparage law enforcement,” Kamoutsas said on social media.

Some Indiana school leaders are also calling for discipline after hundreds of students walked out of class to protest, a move that Republican Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith criticized as unacceptable.

Many parents are unhappy with the protests. One outraged Washington mother, seen in a video, has informed school officials that she is withdrawing her daughter from the district after teachers encouraged students to walk out to protest ICE activities.

When children go off to school each day, teachers act in loco parentis. Unfortunately, these days, “loco” has a whole different meaning.

Oil prices pushed higher Thursday on worries that nuclear talks between US and Iran might not avert a new conflict that could threaten supplies.

"Oil is extending its gains, with Brent crude back above $70 a barrel... as fears of a military confrontation between the US and Iran rattled energy markets," said Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.

"Nuclear talks between the two sides appear to be going nowhere fast, and the geopolitical premium is clearly back in play," he added.

On top of that, API reported an across the board draw in energy inventories.

“The failure to resolve core areas of contention continues to tip the scales in favor of another military confrontation,” RBC Capital Markets analysts including Helima Croft said in a note.

“The massive buildup of US military assets in the region as well as the recent Iranian naval exercise in the Strait of Hormuz seem to suggest that the launch sequence for a second military conflict has commenced.”

Will the official data confirm API's draws and build (pun intended) on the geopolitical risk premia in crude prices...

API

• Crude -609k

• Cushing -1.4mm

• Gasoline -312k

• Distillates -1.6mm

DOE

• Crude -9.014mm - biggest draw since Sept 2025

• Cushing -1.095mm - biggest draw since Jun 2025

• Gasoline -3.21mm - biggest draw since Oct 2025

• Distillates -4.566mm

The official data confirmed API with inventory draws across the board. Crude saw its biggest destocking since September and Gasoline stocks fell for the first time since Nov7th...

Source: Bloomberg

US crude production extended its rebound from the storm slowdown...

Source: Bloomberg

WTI is trading near $67 after the official inventory data, extending gains...

Source: Bloomberg

"Geopolitical issues, above all Iran, are the key bullish factor in the oil market at the moment," University of Texas-Austin energy analyst Ben Cahill tells Axios via email.

"Otherwise there's not a whole lot of price support toward $70 [per barrel]. The slack in this market could embolden the White House," he said.

Iran exports about 1.5 million barrels per day, mostly to China. But the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow sea passage next to Iran, is a choke point that handles a whopping one-fourth or so of the world's maritime oil trade.

"For oil markets, the concern is clearly what action would mean not only for Iranian oil supply, but also broader Persian Gulf oil flows, given the risk of disruption to shipments through the Strait of Hormuz," ING analysts said in a note on Wednesday.

Daan Struyven, Goldman Sachs co-head of global commodities research, told CNBC that he thinks the market sees tensions escalating further between the US and Iran, a likely catalyst for price hikes and longer-term volatility.

"Both prediction markets and oil markets are pricing some near-term moderate escalation as the base case," he said.

Specifically, if tensions in the Strait were to curtail flows by 1 million barrels per day for an entire year, Struyven predicted that would justify an $8 per barrel price increase, a roughly 11% jump from Thursday's price for Brent crude around $71.50. However, he also noted that fear among traders could push prices even higher, adding to the volatility in the market.

Jeffrey Epstein was connected with several notable scientists - funding leading research centers, including Harvard, where he donated $9 million, and MIT's Media Lab, which he gave at least $7.5 million (and funneled another $1.2 million to investments under the control of the lab's former director, Joi Ito). He was connected to Stephen Hawking, Marvin Minsky, Steven Pinker and a host of other names. 

Now we learn that Epstein provided funding to a lab at UC San Diego after lifestyle guru Deepak Chopra introduced the financier to lab director Vilayanur Subramanian Ramachandran - a neuroscientist who was studying an "autistic savant who displays telepathy," according to the latest DOJ Epstein file dump. 

Chopra, a former UCSD family medicine and public health clinical professor, said in late October that he was just helping Epstein with insomnia by teaching him to meditate. "At my suggestion, he also visited Dr. V.S. Ramachandran's lab at [the University of California San Diego] to learn about ongoing brain research," he told CBS News in December. 

Ramachandran was conducting a study on an "autistic savant who displays telepathy," according to UCSD's The Guardian, citing a Sept. 25, 2017 email with the subject "Cost to study the autistic savant who displays telepathy," in which he tells Chopra, "i don't have a problem with my lab being funded by epstein ... so long as theres no UC connection." 

Ramanchandran further wrote that if Chopra’s “pal [Epstein] is serious about setting in motion a lab for the study of extraordinary brain potential … something like 500,000 to 3 million would get the administrators excited.”

A subsequent email from Epstein to his accountant, Richard Kahn, instructed Kahn to send $25,000 from Epstein’s private foundation, Gratitude America Ltd., to the University of California Board of Regents to fund Ramachandran’s research on savant syndrome. He asked it to be mailed to former psychology department director and current chief administrative officer, Peter Hinkley. 

Chopra later emailed Epstein on October 5, 2017 to provide an update on spending the day with Ramachandran to discuss the "pilot study of autistic savants."

The 2017 emails weren't the first Epstein-Ramachandran mention. On April 17, 2009, Epstein emailed someone whose name was redacted, replying to a list of "smart" and "out of the box" people to have over to his Florida home sometime in the future. Epstein included Ramachandran in this list, along with others who he described as "good friends of mine for years." 

While there's nothing we could find on the telepathic kid (maybe they sensed danger), Ramachandran did write an article in December 2006 where he says telepathy is "legitimately ignored, except by crackpots" because it's difficult to replicate. He's also mentioned a few times in this piece on life after death, ESP, and other phenomenon.

French modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel - whose network delivered new girls from around the world to Jeffrey Epstein on a regular basis, was prepared in 2016 to tell U.S. prosecutors what he knew about Epstein’s sex-trafficking operation. According to newly released files from the DOJ, the now-deceased Brunel’s lawyer was negotiating with attorneys for Epstein’s victims about a possible meeting with federal prosecutors in New York in exchange for immunity - and Epstein knew it. And of course, Goldman Sachs (soon to be ex-) General Counsel Kathy Ruemmler is involved.

According to handwritten notes taken by a federal prosecutor in February 2016 state: "One of Epstein’s bfs, Jean Luc Brunel, has helped get girls. He is wanting to cooperate." The notes add: "Brunel is afraid of being prosecuted," the Wall Street Journal reports.

The discussions contemplated a date for Brunel to walk into the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan. His lawyer said Brunel had recruited girls for Epstein and possessed incriminating photographs, according to the notes.

Then Brunel stopped communicating.

The files indicate that Epstein learned negotiations were underway. On May 3, 2016, Epstein emailed Ruemmler, a top Obama administration attorney who recently announced her resignation over the friendship. Epstein warned that Brunel planned to approach the U.S. Attorney’s office the following week - noting that one of Brunel’s friends had "asked for 3 million dollars so that Jean Luc would not go in."

Epstein said Brunel feared arrest if he did not appear. "I want to know more," he wrote, dismissing Brunel’s lawyer and friend as "scammers."

Ruemmler replied hours later, asking Epstein to call and explain. The next day she wrote: "Awake now. Talking to Poe in 20 mins." Gregory Poe was Epstein’s lawyer in Washington, D.C.

Poe claims he didn't speak with Ruemmler or Epstein about Brunel "on May 4, 2016 or at any other time," telling the Journal that he had a scheduled call that day with Ruemmler about his work on a motion to quash a subpoena directed at Epstein. "My engagement by Jeffrey Epstein was limited," Poe said, adding that he terminated work for Epstein in August 2016.

It remains unclear why Brunel ultimately declined to cooperate, or whether Epstein gave him $3 million not to. What is clear from the files is that no investigation was opened at the time. A 2021 government court filing states that the prosecutor who took the February 2016 notes discussed the meeting with colleagues at the U.S. Attorney’s office and the FBI, but no probe was initiated. The notes referencing Brunel were redacted in that filing. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office in New York declined to comment.

Epstein remained free for another three years, until his arrest in 2019. He died in a New York jail cell later that year in what the city’s medical examiner ruled a suicide.

"It set us back a couple of years," said David Boies, an attorney who filed civil suits on behalf of Epstein victims, referring to Brunel’s decision not to cooperate. "We know from our lawsuits that there were more than 50 girls that were trafficked after this."

Brunel occupied a central place in Epstein’s orbit. As head of a U.S.-based modeling agency, he recruited foreign girls and young women, secured work visas and provided the appearance of legitimate employment, according to the files. He traveled on Epstein’s private jet, visited his private island and exchanged hundreds of emails with him.

Federal prosecutors in New York were briefed in 2016 on details of Epstein’s trafficking scheme, including allegations that Brunel, Ghislaine Maxwell and others recruited dozens of underage girls, the handwritten notes show. The Justice Department did not move on Epstein until after a Miami Herald investigation in late 2018 renewed scrutiny of his earlier plea agreement in Florida.

When Epstein was arrested in 2019, Brunel and Maxwell were identified as co-conspirators in the FBI investigative file, according to the documents. Maxwell was convicted in 2021 and is serving a 20-year prison sentence.

Joseph Titone, Brunel’s attorney, said he advised his client to cooperate with authorities and cut ties with Epstein. "I recommended and advised him to stop communicating with Epstein, but he never did," Titone said.

Brunel was arrested in France in 2020 on allegations of rape and supplying girls to Epstein. He died in jail in 2022. Prosecutors in Paris said Saturday they would re-examine the case and create a special team to analyze evidence that could implicate French nationals.

Ruemmler has said she never represented Epstein and regretted her association with him. A spokeswoman, Jennifer Connelly, said, "This was another instance of Epstein attempting to engage Ms. Ruemmler on a matter about which she had no knowledge, and she appropriately directed him to his legal counsel." Connelly declined to specify which counsel.

As details of Ruemmler’s communications with Epstein became public in the recent files, she said last week she would resign in June from her position as general counsel of Goldman Sachs.

A Modeling Agency as Pipeline

Brunel was always a creep, even before he met Epstein. In 1988, CBS’s "60 Minutes" aired an investigation featuring women who said they were drugged by Brunel and pressured to have sex with his associates to obtain modeling work. One woman alleged on camera that Brunel had drugged and raped her. No criminal charges were filed, and Brunel denied the allegations.

By the early 2000s, Brunel and Epstein had developed a close relationship. Flight logs show Brunel frequently traveled on Epstein’s private jet beginning around 2000.

In 2005, Epstein wired up to $1 million to help Brunel launch MC2 Model Management, which opened offices in New York and Miami. According to the report, the MC2 was an inside joke, referring to the equation E=MC², with the E referring to Epstein.

According to the new files, Epstein used the agency to procure women and as a payroll vehicle. Emails from July 2006 show Epstein instructing Brunel to put a woman "on your payroll" at a $50,000 annual salary. When Brunel asked whether the woman should scout models, Epstein replied: "Start salary as soon as possible." He added that he would be in Paris the following week and "could see her then."

After Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida in 2008 to procuring a minor for prostitution and served jail time, Brunel visited him nearly 70 times, according to jail logs.

Control Through Visas and Debt

Following his 2006 arrest in Florida, Epstein focused on recruiting women in their late teens and 20s from Europe and Russia, the files indicate. Dependent on work visas, housing and financial support, they were vulnerable to control.

In June 2012, Joshua Fink - son of BlackRock CEO Larry Fink - emailed Brunel about an MC2 invoice concerning a 'model' he was 'dating'... Brunel said he would suspend billing. When Brunel forwarded the exchange to Epstein, Epstein replied: "Talk to me first please."

The invoice related to a work visa through the agency. The woman had forwarded chat logs with Fink to Epstein, including messages in which Fink wrote: "And with your visa, I have no idea what it is I can do beyond pay your agency to supplent (sic) your income and theirs because you are not getting work as a model."

Fink said he met the woman at a dinner party and had a romantic relationship lasting about a year. "I had no relationship with Epstein or Brunel," he said. "I am totally shocked that she was forwarding electronic correspondence to Epstein." He said he loaned her money to settle debts with the agency.

"It was a personal relationship, and personal things happen," Fink added. 

The woman told the Journal she felt trapped in a web of abuse controlled by Epstein and Brunel. After signing with MC2 and obtaining a work visa, she said, modeling jobs dwindled while fees mounted. She described the relationship with Fink as consensual and a potential escape. She said Epstein blocked plans for Fink to meet her in Paris to discuss marriage, and the relationship ended.

Brad Edwards, a lawyer representing more than 200 Epstein victims, said, "Epstein’s wealth and power allowed him to infiltrate industries, perhaps most pervasively the modeling industry. He found in Jean-Luc a like-minded predator with whom he could conspire on a daily basis to recruit and control the lives of countless young women, including Jane Doe."

Fracture and Reconciliation - a ruse?

In 2014, Virginia Roberts Giuffre filed a motion alleging Brunel trafficked girls as young as 12 to his associates, including Epstein. As public scrutiny intensified, Brunel and MC2 sued Epstein in Florida in January 2016 - claiming the agency’s value had collapsed due to notoriety surrounding Epstein. The suit alleged up to $10 million in lost profits and difficulty recruiting models.

Titone later contacted Edwards, suggesting Brunel might possess photographic evidence against Epstein. Victims’ attorneys, including Stan Pottinger and Boies, relayed information to federal prosecutors.

By early 2016, Brunel appeared ready to cooperate. The Feb. 29, 2016 notes state: "Titone says his client has photographic evidence." They also note: "Brunel doesn’t want to implicate himself."

On May 3, 2016, Pottinger wrote to a prosecutor referencing Daniel Siad, whom Brunel described as a recruiter for Epstein. Emails show Siad updating Epstein about potential recruits and writing, "please send me the details of the girls names etc." In another message, Siad compared recruiting to fishing: "In This busyness I feel like fisherman some time I cache quick , some time no fish." He itemized expenses of 2,700 euros.

Siad later said in a video broadcast in France that he introduced models to Epstein professionally. "With time, we have learnt that he committed atrocities," he said.

The breach between Brunel and Epstein proved temporary (perhaps as designed). By April 2015, Brunel proposed mediation, and Epstein wrote: "I have some ideas. that I think you will like." Titone said the lawsuit was eventually settled under confidential terms.

When Epstein was found dead in 2019, Brunel went into hiding. French police arrested him in December 2020 as he attempted to board a flight to Senegal. He was charged with sex crimes and, in February 2022, was found hanged in his prison cell.

The Justice Department files suggest that in 2016, a potential turning point slipped away. Brunel did not walk into the U.S. Attorney’s office. The investigation did not advance. And Epstein continued recruiting victims for years afterward.

Things are getting from bad to worse for Private Credit giant Blue Owl Capital.

The last time we looked at the firm's precarious liquidity situation about a month ago, we found that the Blue Owl BDC would allow for 17% redemptions as investors, burned by both the tumbling stock price and the company's massive exposure to ticking private credit time bombs, were storming for the exit. 

Blue Owl BDC Allows for 17% Redemptions as Investors Storm Exit: BBG

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) January 7, 2026

One month later, it has gotten far worse.

On Wednesday, Blue Owl Capital said it will fully restrict withdrawals from one of its retail-focused private credit funds, reversing a previous plan to resume redemptions this quarter as furious investors, fearing many more cockroaches are about to emerge, demanded their money in droves. 

The New York private credit firm said that investors in Blue Owl Capital Corp II, known as OBDC II, will no longer be able to redeem shares on a quarterly basis. Instead, the gated fund will return capital through periodic distributions funded by loan repayments, asset sales or other transactions.

The firm said it sold about $1.4 billion in direct-lending investments across three funds to provide investors with promised liquidity: Blue Owl Capital Corp II, Blue Owl Capital Corporation, and Blue Owl Technology Income Corp. The buyers included North American public pension funds and insurance companies (and, potentially, related parties which would be a huge negative if confirmed).

According to Bloomberg, the decision to gate capital highlights the risks confronting retail investors entering the fast-growing private credit market. Though investors are generally allowed to redeem a portion of their capital each quarter, payouts can be curtailed if withdrawal requests exceed set limits.

The news also rekindled fears in an industry that has attracted increasing scrutiny in recent months over valuations in the market and the quality of lending to firms with heavy debt loads and often little track record.

OBDC II drew scrutiny in recent months after Blue Owl proposed merging it with a publicly traded vehicle — a transaction that prior disclosures indicated could have resulted in losses of roughly 20% for some investors. The company promptly reversed the decision following investor outcry, but that did not change anything in the underlying business and redemption requests had already exceeded the standard 5% quarterly cap.

Blue Owl co-founder Craig Packer defended the decision to sell the loans, saying that the sale at 99.7% of par value was “a strong statement.”

“There’s skepticism about marks. There’s skepticism about valuation. We’ve always been saying we feel really good about the quality of our portfolio and the quality of our marks, but just saying it in some ways doesn’t seem to have done enough. So we’re putting our money where our mouth is,” Packer said on a conference call Thursday morning.

He added that the fund could return half of investors’ capital by the end of this year. He said that the fund was always going to come up with a strategic transaction to return money to investors at this point. “We will look for repayments, earnings and also potential additional asset sales to continue to return that capital,” Packer said.

“OBDC II has been exploring options to either create a liquidity event for investors or wind down the legacy vehicle and ultimately return capital to shareholders. We believe this is an important step forward for the fund as it creates an efficient process around returning capital to these investors,” wrote a Citizens Financial Group analyst, adding that selling loans at par was a “win-win.”

Blue Owl initially looked to sell loans at OBDC II and then widened to other vehicles following demand from institutional buyers, the firm said. OBDC II sold about $600 million - roughly 34% of its portfolio - and will use the proceeds to repay a credit facility from Goldman Sachs, and make a special cash distribution that will total about 30% of the fund’s net asset value.

It has been a very bad year for private credit funds in general and Blue Owl in particular which has been flooded with redemption requests in the past year: funds that let investors redeem periodically can face pressure when too many people want their money back at once. Managers often keep some more easily sold assets to meet withdrawals. Selling directly originated loans, which typically don’t trade often, is less common.

In the most recent quarter, redemption requests exceeded 5% at both of Blue Owl’s non-traded business development companies. Its tech-focused vehicle, OTIC, saw redemption requests jump to about 15% of net asset value, Blue Owl said.  As we reported earlier this month, the latest pressure point for Private Credit funds are their investment in Software/SaaS stocks, with fears spiking after a Barclays report revealed huge exposure to the collapsing software sector.

Blue Owl’s largest publicly traded BDC, OBDC, sold about $400 million of loans across 74 portfolio companies at around par, with an average position size of about $5 million. Blue Owl Technology Income Corp. sold roughly $400 million of loans and used the proceeds to pay down debt.

“What began as a targeted transaction to provide liquidity to OBDC II shareholders attracted significant interest from sophisticated institutional investors, allowing us to opportunistically extend the sale to OBDC,” Craig Packer, a co-founder of Blue Owl, said in a press release.

The firm said the transactions improved balance-sheet flexibility, modestly increased diversification and created more room to deploy capital.

Commenting on the latest news ouf of Blue Owl., Goldman's alt-financials specialist Christian DeGrasse laid out a bullish and bearish take (below we excerpt from his full note available to pro subs)

• Bullish feedback:
  • 1) Positive for the BDCs to be selling loans at/near PAR and combo of delever / buy back stock (OBDC bought back stock at ~86% of book from Nov – Dec),
  • 2) this is a positive ‘proof of concept’ that the marks are in a good place (particularly software, the largest industry in the sale), yes FPAUM getting impacted but with where valuations are, what matters is durability/quality/question of underwriting  rather than small movement in mgmt fees
• Bearish feedback:
  • 1) This impacts OWL’s FPAUM and thus there base mgmt. fee & Part 1 fees (the $1.4bn loan sale est impact firmwide rev by ~1% .. though more OBDC II runoff in future could continue to weigh slightly),
  • 2) Views that this is cherry picking the best loans,
  • 3) we don’t know the duration on these loans – credit spreads have mostly tightened over the past few years, shouldn’t these loans be sold at above-par?,
  • 4) this could indicate higher redemptions on the come (the big non-traded BDC OCIC is not participating in the loan sale so not a read through there … but maybe on OTIC?)
  • 5) some are wondering whether OWL’s own affiliates participated (I’m not seeing any facts around this FWIW, just sharing feedback)
  • 6) this morning we’re getting a lot more inbounds from the macro community about gating redemptions OBDC II (they are saying they’ll return capital through distributions funded by loan repayments, asset sales or other transactions)

Mohamed El-Erian also chimed in, asking if the news was a “canary in a coalmine moment” for private credit.

Is this a “canary-in-the-coalmine” moment, similar to August 2007?
This question will be on the mind of some investors and policymakers this morning as they assess the news that, quoting the FT, the “private credit group Blue Owl will permanently restrict investors from… pic.twitter.com/DhvLlIAy5S

— Mohamed A. El-Erian (@elerianm) February 19, 2026

A much less nuanced - and much more bearish take - this morning from George Noble:

Remember this scene in The Big Short?

Jamie Shipley and Charlie Geller have bet everything against the housing market.

They've been bleeding for months, wondering if they're wrong.

Then they flip on CNN and see it: New Century Financial - the second-largest subprime lender… https://t.co/AoEdZXp77x pic.twitter.com/vTMmNySCpw

— George Noble (@gnoble79) February 19, 2026

The stock of Blue Owl Capital (OWL) tumbled to a fresh two year low this morning, while the publicly-traded BDC (OBDC) also plunged as much as 9.4% on Thursday, approaching the more than two-year low that they reached earlier in the month amid mounting worries over the firm’s exposure to software businesses vulnerable to disruption from AI. 

More in the Goldman note available to pro subs.

Update(1021ET): As has become typical, President Trump is all over the place - his intentions ever more difficult to interpret - at a moment the media has highlighted Iraq war levels of military build-up in the Middle East with an eye on potential attack on Iran.

On Thursday he oversaw the inaugural meeting in Washington DC of the Board of Peace related to Gaza. In televised remarks he surprisingly called tense negotiations with Iran "good talks". But then he immediately pivoted to escalating things a "step further" - which seems a strong hint at launching a regime change war.

"Now we may have to take it a step further, or we may not," Trump added later. Then he set somewhat of a timeline, "You’re going to be finding out over the next, probably, 10 days." Watch the president's fresh remarks:

Trump at his "Board of Peace" on Iran: "Now we may have to take it a step further, or we may not. You're gonna be finding over the next probably 10 days." pic.twitter.com/itAUoc2pPH

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 19, 2026

* * *

Oil prices climbed early Thursday as markets zeroed in on the prospect of US action against Iran, lifting energy shares alongside crude - with West Texas Intermediate above $66 a barrel. The US military build-up in the Middle East means Iran's window to reach a diplomatic agreement over its atomic activities - which Tehran insists is for peaceful domestic energy purposes - is at risk of closing fast, according to the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog speaking to Bloomberg Television. 

At this moment the Trump-assembled armada threatening Iran includes two aircraft carriers, a dozen warships, hundreds of jets, and advanced air defenses. Over 150 US military cargo flights have delivered weapons to the Middle East this month, with a surge of aircraft still headed to the region. Some say the build-up is already nearing Iraq war levels.

Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi underscored the clock is ticking. "There is not much time but we are working on something concrete," said Grossi, in reference to meetings in Geneva with Iranian diplomats. "There are a couple of solutions the IAEA has proposed.

IAEA inspectors haven't verified the state of Iran's stockpile of near-bomb-grade uranium or assessed the scope of damage dealt to enrichment facilities for more than eight months.

Ironically enough, it was the unprovoked surprise Israeli and US attacks which shut the door on such inspections, also after the White House itself insisted on several occasions that the Islamic Republic's nuclear program was "obliterated" in the series of US bunker-buster bomb attacks on Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. Which is it?

Bloomberg and various analysts have speculated that before the Israeli attacks in June, Iran had enough highly-enriched material to quickly craft about a dozen warheads, assuming the scenario Tehran issued the order to weaponize its nuclear program.

Grossi said he also met with Trump’s envoys on Tuesday in Geneva, alongside the IAEA's some six hours of meetings with Iranian diplomats. He asserted that an IAEA return to the damaged facilities in Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz "hinges on the possibility of a wider type of agreement."

"We are conscious of the fact that there is this political negotiation," Grossi added. However, the Iranians are likely going to remain deeply distrustful of the UN watchdog and Grossi himself, given that the surprise June attack resulted in Iranian officials accusing the IAEA team of leaking sensitive data on Iranian facilities to Israel.

This is perhaps why Grossi himself appears pessimistic when commenting on the potential the forge a new deal before US military action ensues.  "There cannot be a deal if the IAEA isn’t able to verify," said Grossi, who described to Bloomberg he's seeking a solution by threading the red lines set by both sides.

"It’s not impossible," he said. "There are certain things that Iran understands cannot be pursued. We have to provide the watertight verification there is no deviation."

Some reports say a US attack on Iran could come as early as this weekend...

Major US naval, air buildup in the Middle East sets stage for potential Iran war.

CNN and CBS reported Wednesday that the US military will be ready to launch strikes against Iran as early as this weekend, though Trump has reportedly not made a final decision yet… pic.twitter.com/cRJOwP2PY8

— AFP News Agency (@AFP) February 19, 2026

As the second US carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, is about to enter the Mediterranean while headed toward the CENTCOM area of responsibility, regional analyst Levent Kemal observes, "The US military buildup in the Middle East is going beyond dialogue or gunboat diplomacy. This is clearly an important preparation for a war aimed at removing the Iranian regime from the regional power balance equation."