I was using "maliciously exploit" here to describe what would basically be the worst case scenario of such a bug (instructing every Tesla to deliberately crash at high speed). I don't think it's in any way a stretch to characterise someone who would do that as mentally unstable.
Of course there's many other ways you could exploit such a bug, but in the context of a "multi-billion dollar" event, it's really only The Big One that's in frame here.
Someone could be sociopathic enough to cause the crashes, but still prefer the money. It definitely seems like you could negotiate for more if you can play the part of that sociopath and don't mind a little bit of extortion.
Of course there's many other ways you could exploit such a bug, but in the context of a "multi-billion dollar" event, it's really only The Big One that's in frame here.