My cholesterol has been creeping up since I hit 30. At the time it started increasing, I was doing something like 15 hours vigorous exercise a week and eating pretty healthy. Not perfect, but pretty good. Doing that much exercise meant I ate a lot.
Arriving in my 40s (a lot less exercise now.. maybe 6 hours a week), my cholesterol got to the point where the doc was talking statins. I didn't like the sound of this and cut out all dairy and avoided fatty meats. The year I ate like that my cholesterol went up by 15%.
As a last resort before starting on statins, I went completely vegetarian (but not vegan) and my previous year's gain in cholesterol reversed in 6 months.
Reading up on it, that may be the one loss I get from cutting out meats and I'm destined for statins anyway.
But, fwiw, that's my experience with cholesterol and dietary changes.
My dad is also vegan and is an amateur athlete. His cholesterol is high enough that they are talking statins.
His dad is on statins.
Yet despite this, nobody in my family has ever had a heart attack, stroke or heart disease.
Is your vegan diet mostly based on unprocessed plants? Do you limit oils when cooking?
Vegan diets can be unhealthy, too.
There can also be a huge genetic component. I believe that family history should play a bigger role in determining one's risk. Some population live a long and healthy life even with high cholesterol (I believe Iceland is one area). But I'm not a pharma salesman (nor doctor), so what do I know.