If anything someone who is already known to cheat “just because” is even more likely to cheat when there is something to gain.
As for cheating and stakes I think it all depends. His claim is he cheated when he was 16 to boost his rating so he could player higher level opponents on stream and boost his career. If you accept that claim it would make sense that he rationalized it that he was just cheating to get to his "true" Elo and stopped cheating once he got there. Now Chess.Com seems to believe that he cheated beyond that but they haven't specified more at this point.
It sounds like he's saying he cheated to get to where he was going faster, but that he would have gotten there eventually so it's fine.
It would be like Armstrong saying he only cheated during trials and training.