Assuming that his aim is to cover his ass to the maximum legal extent possible and that he is actually planning on making some kind of payment and not just stalling, his lawyer would be advising him to make payment directly to the people who are actually owed the money.  Pirate cannot pretend that the PPT operators are the people who are owed the money - there's far too much evidence of him knowing that the PPT operators were investing other people's funds.  Returning the funds directly bypasses the risk of the funds not being returned to the actual investors. 

My guess is that he's expecting this to end up in court at some point and doing everything possible to minimise the chances that any kind of conspiracy between him and the PPT operators could be established.  A court would almost certainly order that he return funds to the investors rather than the PPT operators so it's likely his lawyers are advising him to do just that.  Whether the PPT operators who don't forward the requested information will get thrown under a bus is something we'll have to wait to find out.

I'd be extremely cautious if he's unwilling to disclose the name and contact details of his lawyer, though.  Private information is best sent to someone who is legally obligated to use it only for a specific purpose.