No. I would simply retain $40K from those recovered from Chen Jianhai, and convert that to Singapore Dollar and send back to my friend.
If later found out that the recoverable stolen funds exceed $140K in total, then it will be my personal liability to deal with Bitcoinica directly. In any case, AurumXchange shouldn't be holding the funds forever. $40K is only a small part of my total liability (this becomes my "liability" to Bitcoinica once I recover full amounts from Chen Jianhai), so there's no reason to not trust and co-operate with me when I can deliver my promise of the $100K and 20,000 BTC.
In the situation you are in
I forbid you to retain anything at all as long there are liabilities to Bitcoinica customers. Your personal liabilities come second and I personally don't care.
In case you are behind all that (And I want to keep this option open) that move is just a smart way of circumventing AML-investigations. You also wouldnt be responsible to prove the legitimacy of these funds anymore. Comparing the total amount of returned vs. stolen funds that leaves still the possibility of you making a profit in this hack (hypothetical situation)
Also moving the risk of goverment seizure of your friends funds or lengthy unblocking procedure to Bitcoinica customers is just unfair. We as customers were not involved in money laundering YOUR FRIEND WAS so he has to take the risk!
If you are worried about getting your money back from Bitcoinica. You should write to Patrick, Amir and Donald immediately. They are blocking the refunding process, and not anyone else.
The fund transfers are personal dealings with Patrick Murck, who represents multiple major creditors in Bitcoinica. I have never received any official communication from Bitcoinica since the hack. The 15,000 BTC returned is being held in escrow and it's not yet Bitcoinica's or Bitcoinica customers' money. The point of transferring the funds to a trusted third party is to provide safe and legal withholding of stolen properties and facilitate refunding process in the future.
AurumXchange blocked my funds only because of the suspicion of me being involved in the hack. Regardless of the outcome of the investigation, the money either belongs to me, or Bitcoinica. If it belongs to Bitcoinica it should be transferred to Patrick Murck, and if it belongs to me it should be transferred to me. However here I make a public authorization that AurumXchange can transfer to Patrick Murck if it belongs to me. This means that AurumXchange doesn't have to continue holding the funds because of their inability to determine the rightful owner of the funds.
My personal interest is that AurumXchange should not be holding the funds for more than 5 days even if they refuse the exchange service. I stand on the side of Bitcoinica customers so obviously I will (and I have demonstrated my good faith to) settle efficiently with Bitcoinica customers.
No matter how you think, this issue has not yet reached a legal level of resolution. Bitcoinica still owes you 100% of your claimed amount and I personally (or even Chen Jianhai) owe everyone 0% like always. Only when Bitcoinica officially recognize and identify their stolen properties, the liability status will change.
The best way to get your money as soon as possible is to contact Bitcoinica immediately and ask them to take actions. Money is not a problem here because I will definitely transfer whatever I can recover.