Yes, actually those of us who have been in this thread discussing it the entire time, who spent the time and energy to attempt to track him down, who have been active, DO actually deserve to be paid before those who passively waited for something to happen and then piled in. If he waited until he had the full amount, as you suggest, who knows how long he would take and since you have no idea how much he has, how much he earns, or pretty much anything at all, you would have everyone wait potentially a year or more just so you could feel satisfied that it was "fair" and that is ridiculous.
I much prefer seeing actual payments being made to people, that we can track and confirm. What he SHOULD do is post a list of everyone he has on his repayment list in order of priority so they know where they stand.
Let's say you should be refunded first because you were "active". You should be refunded fully before any other large investor sees a penny? That way this guy can pay the ones that know his personal data and then stop paying and get away with the rest of the funds.
What about paying everybody 0,5 BTC, then 1BTC and so on until everyone gets their full investment?
I'm just proposing alternatives because I don't see this ending well without some planning.