CCP claimed on Reddit that it was an unforeseen circumstance of an issue with… well, the main post is linked in this thread:
As I mentioned in my reply that post, my tinfoil hat is currently on - the timing with the update to the low-BRM patch the day before this happened is awfully convenient. My corp filed a bug report over a month ago when we noticed that the BRM was no longer being updated, and CCP failed to confirm anything was out of the ordinary.
In hindsight, the ESS/BRM update was clearly a predecessor to the waste mechanics in the scarcity updates. Rat, lose some to ESS. Then lose more to the Reserve Bank. Then lose more to space when you rob it. Then lose it all when you get popped on the way out of system. Content created, isk faucet plugged. Everybody is happy, right? 