Sure. The gist of what you write is true. Being caught cheating harms his future prospects. You are thinking that now because he was already caught. But when h

Sure. The gist of what you write is true. Being caught cheating harms his future prospects. You are thinking that now because he was already caught. But when he decided to cheat he didn’t know he will be caught. Probably he either estimated the chanches of him it wrong. Thinking perhaps that he will do a better job with the cheating, or that nobody looks that hard. Or he assumed lower consequences. Perhaps assuming if they catch him they just won’t give him the award, as opposed to making a big deal out of it.