That's not how it works. The money can still be guilty of a crime outside of the Defendant's acquittal in civil cases like this.

source: hundreds of hours in forfeiture court

A pardon results in the relief from the consequences of a crime. There being a pardon doesn't necessarily mean there was no crime.

“A pardon is an expression of the president's forgiveness and ordinarily is granted in recognition of the applicant's acceptance of responsibility for the crime and established good conduct for a significant period of time after conviction or completion of sentence. It does not signify innocence.”

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_pardons_in_the_Unite...

Pardons are forgiveness. They don’t roll back the clock, although the Supreme Court ruled in 2021 that acceptance of a pardon is not an assumption of guilt.

I don’t believe that’s true. A pardon does not excuse a crime.

That would arguably create some of the worst perverse incentives, as far as financial crimes go.

Any two-bit governor could team up with some criminal, and make enough money to be set up for life against a pardon. Even worse if it's a president, as they could likely get off scot-free.

Trump could literally scam everyone and everyone, step down, receive a pardon from the VP, and happy days.

Hard to agree here. A jury of his peers convicted him of the crime.