It's unlikely that there's going to be an issue regarding him receiving or holding the funds in trust. Where an issue potentially arises is the transferring of the funds to someone else and I'm sure that Patrick's going to do everything possible to protect himself from any potential liability in that respect.
As an interesting side note, if a NZ entity becomes insolvent and a creditor helps secure assets or uncover hidden ones, the creditor's costs associated with securing those assets become a preferential debt.
Patrick is probably getting paid for "helping" us, and each time he comes to the forum to answer questions, he bills for his time. He'll take his fees out of the balance the users get.
It's a trivial matter to ask those who've retained him in this matter whether they intend to absorb the cost of his fees relating to this issue.