Indeed, I still think that should be a last resort. If he can draft some reasonable payment plans (and actually abide by the terms therein), that would make everyone's life easier. I'm thinking the reason he hasn't paid back more people is that he has already spent (or gambled away?) some of the bitcoin; otherwise he would increase his scope and frequency of refunds, or at the very least he would have said how much BTC he has access to and how much BTC has been "stolen by hackers" (to build upon his narrative).