All I know is, that he hasn't done anything realistic, and tries to make other people feel guilty. I still think there is a reason he's not allowed to see his kids.
I get the compulsive liar vibe. Using his kids to get an emotive response, sucks.
All of your suggestions are going to suck, because I think he's a liar. Something about him tells me liar, liar, so f'ing lying. And the fact that he won't follow up with anything realistic or provide any proof of the run-ins makes him suck all the more. He just happened to run into them again, and got nothing arranged at all. Aaah whatever. It was cool of him to give you money though. I wonder what he wants. For real. I am a suspicious asshole, because his whole story still screams od fake, faking, liar. He got upset with you because you are asking real questions and he can't take the truth, because he's lying. Or not. I will screw off for now. But mark this, something is really really screwed up, and I think it's him. I think you're about to find out what's what...
Watch it!