That is a good question and we don't know who created it or why. One theory I've come up with recently is that whoever created it sold it to the coin mill, either because he didn't want to release it himself, or because the coin mill made a good offer for it, and he decided to go with that rather than try to release himself into a crowded and tricky altcoin space. Or maybe just gave it to them because he wanted it out there but not with his name attached.

I have no evidence for it, but it does logically fit. I don't see a coin mill really having the skill set or frankly culture and disposition to develop something like this themselves, and it is pretty apparent to me we are dealing with a coin mill, so they must have got it from somewhere. There are other possibilities though.

I agree with you that the cryptography itself should stand or fall on its own without regard for where it came from. (I think the OP said this in the first paragraph, right?)