Their entire identity revolved around reddit. They devoted their entire life to the site. With that level of commitment you find the time.

Your self-hosted VPN has to be plugged into the internet somewhere. If that IP address is associated with you, the VPN hasn’t done anything.

The number of people who are using the VPN server also lends plausible deniability.
“No I wasn’t pirating anything! That was someone else! I was just using it because I like my privacy and don’t trust my government to not snoop on it!”

So looks like they’re going through with it.
We’re seeing which mods are just power hungry internet janitors with delusions of grandeur, and which were the ones that genuinely care about the communities they grew.
The latter are being removed. The former will replace them or never left in the first place.