When you apply for a patent, you disclose how your invention works. That's how the patent system works. The bargain is that you trade your secrecy for the legal protection, and for a limited time, a legal monopoly on the product.
Not everyone makes that bargain. Coke keeps their secret recipe a secret. Many other companies rely on trade secrets instead of patents. But if their secret gets out, or somebody re-discovers their invention, or reverse-engineers it, they're SOL.
If you get a patent, then the workings of your device become public information. But you are able to profit because, for the duration of the patent, nobody can copy your invention without getting permission (a license) from you.
He seems to want to keep the workings of his device a secret while simultaneously gaining the protection of a patent. That's not how it works.
I have seen nothing to suggest that this is anything other than a run-of-the-mill investment con.