swh, I don't know where you are getting your information, but court records clearly state that mother filed, in Arizona on October 30, 2012, a request for registration of foreign judgment for enforcement of support order. Father filed, in Arizona on December 5, 2012, a motion to dismiss request for registration of foreign judgment for enforcement of support order.
Very close to having a settlement? Close means different things to different people. As no settlement was reached, close wasn't close enough.
The Hong Kong proceedings were a mess, full of misunderstandings, half-truths and lies, some intentional and some not. The lawyers were just as confused as the judges, though neither admitted it very often. The lawyers also made lots of mistakes. Even the Family Responsibility Office in Canada provided incorrect information to Hong Kong. Who knew what, when, is also not clear. Overall, the case in Hong Kong was a goat f$%k or a dog's breakfast, or something similar.
Sure, the prisoner had been paying some child support, an amount he determined he should pay, but this was in violation of the Canadian court order. One must pay what is ordered by the court or go to court to get it changed. Once he fell behind in his payments, the court would not hear his filings. One who is in contempt by not paying cannot be heard in court until the contempt is purged. It's just like being put in jail for violating a Mareva that a judge later dismissed. It was valid at the time of the violation and that's when the contempt took place. It's all there in the Hong Kong judgment. "At the time when he committed the acts in contempt, the Mareva injunction was valid."
He dug his own hole by not paying what was ordered. That's the bottom line. Had he paid what was ordered and while doing so, fought this in Canadian court, the lawyers would be much poorer today.
There are facts, opinions and lies. Anyone who cares to know the facts can read them in the court documents, not here in this forum.
The case goes on in Arizona. It's presently in the Arizona Court of Appeals, Division 2, for Pima County
https://www.appeals2.az.gov/ODSPlus/caseInfo.cfm