It's not cynical - see what happened to ublock. That kind of mess has happened, and will continue to happen, and should be a factor in what you choose to trust.
The extension in the Chrome Web Store (CWS) never changed hands. I just reverse-forked a GitHub repo, which was of no consequences to those who installed the extension from the CWS. I was asked to transfer the CWS entry, I refused. This can't be compared to an extension changing hands or going rogue in the CWS.
Wasn't the worst that happened with it that the guy who took over uBlock tried to take credit for it and asked for donations? Not like he could get away with anything outright illegal when everyone knew he was running the project.
The Wiki article has a brief summary of the history, but basically the original author wanted to transfer responsibility for the user-facing maintenance to someone else, who started seeking donations and (I believe) taking payment for "acceptable ads" and the like.
