Egan-Jones Whistleblower Builds Private-Credit Rater of His Own

Michael Brawer spent more than four years as chief risk officer at Egan-Jones Ratings Co., seeing the firm grow into a force in the private credit market.

Then he turned into a whistleblower, alleging that analysts there were pressured to alter ratings to win clients and last year sued Egan-Jones for wrongful termination, arguing he was fired for trying to raise concerns to regulators. The firm denies his allegations.

Now, Brawer is out on his own — betting that he can build his own private credit ratings firm to take on his ex-employer and others serving the $1.7 trillion ...