Full opinion text
TJOFLAT, Circuit Judge: This appeal represents the latest — and we hope final — chapter in a protracted RICO prosecution which has already commanded the attention of four panels of this court. Following our 1996 mandate setting aside the criminal forfeiture of Michael Gilbert’s interest in a California limited partnership, the Government moved the district court to force Michael Gilbert and his family to file third-party petitions to reclaim their interests pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 1963(Z), and to restrain the Gil-berts from the use and enjoyment of the previously forfeited property pending the outcome of the section 1963(Z) hearing. The Government contends that although the judgment forfeiting Michael Gilbert’s partnership interest has been set aside, the Gilberts should be forced to file third-party petitions because Michael derived his partnership interest as a subsequent transferee of Benjamin Kramer, one of his co-defendants whose silent interest in the limited partnership remains forfeited to the United States. We conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion in denying the Government’s request. The statutory scheme outlined in section 1963(i) does not permit the Government’s attempt to force the Gilberts to file third-party petitions. Moreover, we note that even if section 1963(i) did allow such an action by the Government, the subsequent proceeding would be needless because the order of forfeiture upon which the Government relies is invalid. Accordingly, we affirm the district court’s denial of the Government’s motion to force the Gilberts to file third-party petitions pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 1963(1) and to restrain the Gilberts from the use and enjoyment of their property. I. A. The Bell Gardens Bicycle Club (the “Club”) was created on December 5, 1983 as a joint venture between two California partnerships: LCP, a general partnership, and Park Place Associates, a limited partnership (“PPA”). PPA had received an exclusive license from the City of Bell Gardens to operate a card club in 1982, but was unable at that time to raise enough money to buy land and begin construction. PPA thus entered into a joint venture agreement with LCP, which offered to find the funds necessary to finance the Club’s construction. For its part, PPA agreed to contribute its rights to property in the City of Bell Gardens as well as the gaming license it had already obtained. Unbeknownst to PPA, one source of funding located by LCP was a large-scale money laundering operation. From 1982 to 1987, Benjamin Kramer and three of his partners (Randy Lanier, George Brock, and Gene Fisher) were involved in an intricate scheme to import large quantities of marijuana into the United States. See United States v. Kramer, 73 F.3d 1067, 1070 (11th Cir.1996); United States v. Kramer, 807 F.Supp. 707, 710 (S.D.Fla.1991); see also United States v. Kramer, 955 F.2d 479 (7th Cir.1992). The details of this bold undertaking and the elaborate money laundering operation that followed are described in great detail in Kramer, 807 F.Supp. at 710-36. Of significance in the instant appeal is that approximately $12.6 million of the initial $22 million needed to build the Club came from proceeds of Kramer’s marijuana smuggling operation. The level of complicity in the money laundering plan varied among the LCP partners. The three original LCP partners — Dale Lyon, Julie Coyne, and David Pierson — were brought together in 1983 by Michael Gilbert’s father, Sam Gilbert. Sam, a wealthy Los Angeles businessman, was the first Gilbert to establish ties with the Kramer family when he befriended Benjamin Kramer’s father, Jack Kramer, in 1978. At that time, Jack Kramer and Sam Gilbert came up with the idea of building a legal card club for the purposes of laundering Benjamin Kramer’s dirty money. By 1983, Sam Gilbert was in contact with David Pierson, who was himself thinking of building a card club and was looking for legitimate investors. Pierson gave Sam Gilbert a prospectus, Sam liked what he saw, and Sam agreed to arrange the financing for the project in return for a sixty percent share of Pierson’s ownership interest in the Club. Sam Gilbert went to work putting together a team to undertake the financing side of the project. To that end, Sam Gilbert brought in Dale Lyon, a banker and businessman, and Julie Coyne, who had an experienced background in personnel. For some time, Lyon, Pierson, Coyne, and Sam Gilbert discussed the ownership percentages of what would become the LCP general partnership. Then, for little or no consideration, Sam Gilbert gave his entire sixty percent interest in LCP to the newcomers Lyon and Coyne in equal shares. At the end of the day, Lyon and Coyne each owned a thirty percent interest in LCP and Pierson controlled the other forty percent interest. While Sam Gilbert, Lyon, Coyne, and Pierson were negotiating their respective interests in LCP, Coyne, Sam Gilbert, and Lyon set up CGL Investment Company, Inc. (“CGL”). CGL was created to pose as a legitimate mortgage broker that would fund and invest in real estate projects, specifically, the Club. Shortly after Sam Gilbert had taken the necessary steps to organize both LCP and CGL, he met with Jack Kramer to explain the money laundering scheme, referring at that time to the new LCP partners and PPA as “your straw people. [The] lily-white people who will be approved by the Gambling Commission.” Kramer, 807 F.Supp. at 712-13. Approximately $12.6 million of Benjamin Kramer and his three associates’ drug money was sent to CGL from a sham lending firm named Troon Mortgage Investment company (“Troon”), located in Tortola, which is part of the British Virgin Islands. Troon received the drug money from a trust called the BRT trust, located in Liechtenstein. Sam Gilbert arranged for the money to be sent from Troon to CGL in the form of a loan. CGL then forwarded the money to the Club, once again in the form of a loan. In appreciation for the loan, Sam Gilbert promised Benjamin and Jack Kramer that they would retain their lender’s rights of repayment of principal at a fifteen percent rate of interest (payable over fifteen years). In addition, Troon was to receive a fifteen percent income participation “kicker” payable over the life of the project. With the necessary funds in hand, construction on the Club began in January 1984. By the fall of the same year, however, it became obvious that an additional $10 million would be needed to finish the project. To this aim, the LCP general partners asked Sam Gilbert to personally guarantee a $5 million loan that LCP had negotiated from a legitimate lending institution. Sam Gilbert refused to provide this guarantee but indicated that his son, Michael Gilbert, might be interested. Sam Gilbert told Michael of LCP’s need for additional financing and informed him that a twenty percent interest in LCP was available for $200,000. Michael Gilbert, in turn, discussed this opportunity with his siblings, Robert and Margaret. In November 1984, after some negotiations with the LCP partners, Michael, Robert, and Margaret bought a twenty percent interest in LCP in exchange for $200,000 and an agreement to guarantee a $5.5 million loan to help finish construction of the Club. Coyne and Pierson each gave up ten percent of their interest in LCP to carve out the twenty percent share. Gilbert and his siblings obtained a $200,000 loan from the Olympic National Bank to purchase the twenty percent interest in LCP. By agreement of the parties, LCP, rather than Michael Gilbert or his siblings, made the interest payments on the loan, and the loan principal was paid directly out of Michael Gilbert’s and his siblings’ profit distributions. As a result of Michael, Robert, and Margaret buying this twenty percent ownership interest, LCP, which had from its inception been organized as a general partnership, was reorganized into a limited partnership (“LCP, Ltd.”) on November 15,1984. The newly acquired twenty percent interest in LCP, Ltd. was divided among the members of the Gilbert family as follows: Michael and Robert each received one-third (or 6.67% each) and the remaining one-third was divided equally among Margaret, Michael’s three children, and Robert’s four children. Both Michael and Robert placed their children’s shares in trust by creating, respectively, the Michael Gilbert Family Irrevocable Trust (the “Trust”) and the Robert Gilbert Family Irrevocable Trust. In total, Michael Gilbert and the Trust owned approximately a ten percent interest (9.1675%) in LCP, Ltd. The Club opened for business on November 30, 1984. Although the Club was not immediately successful, it started turning a substantial profit within six months. In 1989, the Club’s after-tax profits were approximately $23 million. Starting in December 1984, the Club made regular mortgage payments on the CGL loan. LCP, Ltd. also paid CGL its fifteen percent profit participation on a monthly basis. In turn, CGL forwarded the mortgage payments and the kicker to Troon. In 1986, the net quickly closed in on Benjamin Kramer’s money laundering operation. Benjamin Kramer’s contact in Tortola who ran Troon was arrested by British police. Shortly after the arrest, the Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”) obtained Troon’s records and launched a joint investigation with the Internal Revenue Service into the Club’s financing. In November 1986, DEA agents interviewed Sam Gilbert, Michael Gilbert, and others as part of an investigation into the possible use of drug proceeds to build the Club. Compounding Benjamin Kramer’s woes was the fact that the Club was now turning a substantial profit and, as Jack Kramer testified during the ancillary hearing following the criminal trial, “the Devil raised his head” and Sam Gilbert decided to make the Kramer interest in the Club disappear. Kramer, 807 F.Supp. at 731. Sam Gilbert swiftly forced Benjamin Kramer out by reneging on the fifteen percent kicker and then refinancing the balance due on the $12.6 million mortgage loan at a more favorable interest rate through a legitimate lending institution. Forcing Benjamin Kramer out was easily accomplished, since his name had been intentionally left off of all Club documents to hide his illegitimate ownership interest. At the same time the $12.6 million loan was being refinanced, Michael Gilbert and Lyon, at a CGL Board of Directors’ meeting, authorized the transfer of $9.5 million in the form of a cashier’s check as repayment of CGL’s obligation to Troon. The Government later traced the $9.5 million transfer to a Bank account in Luxembourg. B. On November 24, 1987, a Southern District of Florida grand jury returned an indictment charging Benjamin Kramer, Jack Kramer, Michael Gilbert, and Melvin Kessler (an attorney who is of no consequence to this appeal), with various violations of the RICO statute, the Travel Act, and conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service. Specifically, the RICO count alleged that the defendants had been engaged in a scheme to launder money generated from trafficking marijuana. The indictment also included a RICO forfeiture count in which the Government alleged that all four of the defendants had “property constituting, and derived from, proceeds which they obtained, directly or indirectly, from racketeering activity ... thereby making such property and the entire interest of the defendants, therein or an amount of cash equivalent thereto including but not limited to the amount of $50,000,000.00, forfeitable to the United States pursuant to Title 18, United States Code, Section 1963(a)(3).” Next, the forfeiture count explained that “the said $50,000,000.00 constituting, and derived from, such proceeds includes but is not limited to the property described as” the Club. A legal description of the Club as set forth in the title document followed. C. On March 28, 1990, following a three month trial, the jury found Benjamin Kramer and Jack Kramer guilty of, inter alia, conspiring to racketeer under 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d) and of committing substantive racketeering acts under 18 U.S.C. § 1962(c). After having some difficulty arriving at a unanimous decision, the jury, two days later, found Michael Gilbert guilty of three counts of violating the Travel Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1952, and one count of racketeering under 18 U.S.C. § 1962(c). Kramer, 73 F.3d at 1070. D. Following these convictions, on April 2, 1990, the same jury considered the forfeiture issue in a separate proceeding. At the outset of the forfeiture phase, the Government called one witness, the Club’s chief financial officer, through whom it introduced charts illustrating the origins of the various monies that went into building the Club as well as the Club’s profit distributions. A slice taking up slightly more than half of one pie chart reflected the infusion of mortgage money originating from Troon and passing through CGL. The Government rested and closing arguments ensued. Michael Gilbert was the only defendant who argued against forfeiture of the Club. Benjamin Kramer and Jack Kramer, through their counsel, informed the jury in their respective closing arguments that they did not have, and for that matter never had, an ownership interest in the Club. In fact, to stress this point, Benjamin Kramer’s attorney openly invited the Government to enter into a stipulation whereby it could have whatever interest Benjamin Kramer had in the Club. In its closing argument on the forfeiture issue, the Government advanced its theory that “[t]he [Club] was built from the first shovel of dirt being taken out of the ground with drug money that came from Ben Kramer’s marijuana smuggling. It was forfeitable from that very point forward.” The Government further argued that forfeiture of the entire Club was proper and that the jury “ought not be concerned with ... the innocent people here ... [because] those individuals [could later] petition the court to get back any interest that they have” in the Club. In addition to the Club, the Government sought forfeiture of $9.5 million representing the amount wired from LCP, Ltd. to Troon in 1986. Following closing arguments on the forfeiture issue, the court instructed the jury that “the term ‘forfeiture’ means to be divested or deprived of the ownership of something as penalty for the commission of a crime.” The court then explained that “to be entitled to such forfeiture, the Government must have proved beyond a reasonable doubt ... [t]hat the proceeds or property forfeited was obtained, directly or indirectly, by the Defendant, as charged; and ... [t]hat such proceeds or property were obtained by the specified Defendant ... from ... racketeering activity.” Before it sent the jury out to deliberate, the court gave the jury special verdict of forfeiture forms to complete for each defendant. The special verdict of forfeiture forms asked the jury whether the Club “constituted or was derived from any proceeds which [the named defendant] obtained directly or indirectly from racketeering activity.” If the jury answered “yes” to that question, it then had to “indicate whether the [Club] is subject to Forfeiture.” The jury answered “yes” to both questions on the verdict forms pertaining to Benjamin and Jack Kramer. In addition, the jury forfeited the $9.5 million that LCP, Ltd. sent to Troon in 1986, and held Benjamin and Jack Kramer jointly and severally liable for that amount. With respect to Michael Gilbert, the jury struggled to come to a consensus on its forfeiture verdict pertaining to the Club. The following day, the jury ultimately answered “yes” to both questions. Notably, the jury was never asked to delineate the extent of Michael Gilbert’s, Benjamin Kramer’s, or Jack Kramer’s ownership interest in the Club. For that matter, the jury was never asked to decide whether the Kramers even had an ownership interest in the Club. Over objection, the court disregarded Michael Gilbert’s proposed special verdict forms and instructions that addressed both of these concerns. E. On April 3, 1990, at an impromptu hearing convened by the district court a few hours after the jury agreed to forfeit Michael Gilbert’s interest in the Club, the prosecutor handed the court and those non-defendant parties interested in the Club who were then present a “motion for order of forfeiture and for order of seizure, entry of restraining orders and appointment of interim trustee.” The interested parties — persons asserting legitimate ownership interests in the now-forfeited Club — hurriedly entered objections, but “the district court entered the government’s proposed order for forfeiture, and also seized the Club in its entirety, appointed an interim trustee, and prevented the Club or its owners from distributing profits or transferring their interests.” Kramer, 912 F.2d at 1259. On or about April 27, the interested parties petitioned the district court for an ancillary hearing pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 1963(i )(2), which states that “[a]ny person, other than the defendant, asserting a legal interest in property which has been ordered forfeited to the United States pursuant to this section may ... petition the court for a hearing to adjudicate the validity of his alleged interest in the property.” The parties also asked the court for relief from or stay of the restraining orders previously placed on the Club. Kram er, 912 F.2d at 1259. Without addressing the merits of the third-parties’ ownership claims, the district court “maintained the restraining order, pending final resolution of the scope of the forfeiture of the Club in a hearing required under 18 U.S.C. § 1968(0” Id. Despite the requirement that “[t]he hearing on the petition shall, to the extent practicable and consistent with the interests of justice, be held within thirty days of the filing of the petition,” 18 U.S.C. § 1963(Z)(4) (emphasis added), the district court’s promise of an ancillary hearing went unfulfilled for the next four months. Kramer, 912 F.2d at 1257, 1259. In light of the district court’s failure to comply with the statutory mandate, the LCP, Ltd. partners who claimed a legal interest in the Club appealed on an expedited basis to this court for relief. See Kramer, 912 F.2d. at 1258. PPA did not join in the appeal, presumably because “the government quickly relinquished any opposition to [PPA’s] claim because of its non-involvement in money laundering.” Kramer, 807 F.Supp. at 710. On September 7, 1990, this court concluded that the district court had “erred by not holding a hearing required by § 1963(i) within the statutory thirty day period after the filing of the claimants’ petitions or a reasonable time thereafter,” Kramer, 912 F.2d at 1260, and directed the district court to commence ancillary hearings within thirty days. The ancillary hearings began on September 10, 1990. Michael Gilbert, through his attorney, argued that he should be allowed to participate in the proceedings and show that he was a bona fide purchaser of his interest in the Club. The Government opposed the motion, pointing out that section 1963(Z )(2) states that only persons “other than the defendant ... may ... petition the court for a hearing to adjudicate the validity of his alleged interest in the property.” 18 U.S.C. § 1963(0(2) (emphasis added). The court agreed, and summarily barred Michael Gilbert from participating in the ancillary proceedings. On September 28, 1990, the district court continued the ancillary proceeding to allow the Government and the third-parties to engage in settlement discussions. Both Coyne and Pierson, among others, settled with the Government. As a result, Lyon was the only founding LCP partner to participate in the ancillary proceeding through its conclusion. Joining him were the Lyon Family Trust, Karen Gilbert, and the Trust. In a lengthy Amended Final Order of Forfeiture dated July 22, 1991, the district court found that the “real owners” of the Club at its inception were Benjamin Kramer and his three drug smuggling associates (Randy Lanier, George Brock, and Brock’s half-partner, Gene Fisher) — Benjamin Kramer was not the sole owner since he only contributed approximately $4 million (or 1/3) of the initial $12.6 million mortgage proceeds used to build the Club. Kramer, 807 F.Supp. at 736. In making this finding, the district court leaned heavily on the fact that “[f]rom the evidence the [Club] is adequately capitalized if Ben [Kramer] and partners are the real owners, but not so if Ben’s money was found to be only a loan.” Id. at 725. In light of the Club’s negative asset structure (if the drug proceeds are ignored), the district court found that the LCP, Ltd. and PPA partners were merely straw persons whose purpose was to obtain the requisite licenses for a card club and make the Club look legitimate, id. at 736, and that the three original LCP general partners were nominees for the investments of Benjamin Kramer and his three drug-smuggling associates. Id. at 739. Faced with trying to delineate the extent of third-party Lyon’s ownership interest in the Club, the court concluded that “[w]hatever interest Ben Kramer had at [the time he and his three drug-smuggling associates loaned approximately $12 million to LCP] precludes Lyon, under the relation back doctrine, from asserting either that title was vested in him rather than the Defendant Ben Kramer or that he was a title holder superior to Ben Kramer’s interest.” Id. Because forfeiture under RICO reaches only the ownership interest held by the defendant (and Benjamin Kramer’s three drug-smuggling associates had not been indicted), the district court denied “Lyon’s petition in the amount of one-third (/é) of his current holdings in LCP” since Benjamin Kramer’s share of the invested drug proceeds was approximately $4 million of the total $12.6 million investment, or one-third. Id. The district court also concluded that Lyon was not a bona fide purchaser of that portion of his interest. Id. at 740. Michael Gilbert’s wife, Karen, also participated in the ancillary hearings. She claimed an interest in the Club by virtue of the fact that, as Michael Gilbert’s wife, California community property laws entitled her to half of her husband’s interest in the Club at the time Michael Gilbert bought into LCP. The court denied her petition in its entirety, reasoning that she was not a bona fide purchaser because she “knew, or at least should have known of the tainted nature of her husband’s interest.” Id. The court also denied the claim of the Trust. Id. at 742. Following the ancillary hearings, Karen Gilbert and the Trust appealed the district court’s decision denying them any interest in the Club. These appeals were consolidated with the appeal of Benjamin Kramer’s and Michael Gilbert’s convictions. Both Benjamin Kramer and Michael Gilbert appealed their RICO and Travel Act convictions; Michael, alone, contested the forfeiture judgment. See Kramer, 73 F.3d at 1070. F. On appeal, we affirmed Benjamin Kramer’s convictions. Kramer, 73 F.3d at 1070 n. 1. As for Michael Gilbert, we affirmed his RICO and Travel Act convictions, reversed his money laundering conviction, id. at 1072-73, and set aside the forfeiture order against him. Id. at 1075-76. With respect to the order forfeiting Michael Gilbert’s interest in the Club, we reasoned that: Property forfeitable in a RICO proceeding is limited to that which the defendant obtains directly or indirectly as a result of the racketeering activity. See 18 U.S.C. § 1963(a)(3). The only acts of racketeering which were both charged by the government and found by the jury to have been committed by Gilbert occurred after he had obtained his interest in the [Club]. Property acquired before a defendant commits an act of racketeering cannot be said to have been derived from it. As such, the forfeiture of Michael Gilbert’s interest in the [Club] must be set aside. Id. at 1076. Consequently, we concluded further in a footnote that: Because we hold that Michael Gilbert’s interest in the [Club] is not subject to forfeiture, neither are the interests of Karen Gilbert and [the Trust]. And, orders restraining Michael Gilbert, Karen Gilbert or the [Trust] from the use and enjoyment of their interest in the [Club], including profits, are to be, for them, set aside also. Because the government, as we understand it, still does have some interest in the [Club] due to other forfeitures, we anticipate the district court, will, in the light of the differing ownership interests, need to hold a hearing or hearings and to issue additional orders about the [Club]’s future operations upon the district court’s receiving of the mandate from this court. Id. at 1076 n. 23. After we handed down our decision on January 16, 1996, the Government sought rehearing and modification on the issue of resentencing, arguing that the district court should be allowed to resentence Michael Gilbert since a valuable property interest was returned to him. Rehearing was denied in July, and our mandate issued on July 18, 1996. The mandate stated, “it is now hereby ordered and adjudged by this Court that the judgments and convictions of the District Court in these causes be and the same hereby AFFIRMED except as to Gilbert’s conviction for money laundering and the forfeiture judgment which are REVERSED.” Back in the district court, the Gilberts moved for an Order on the Mandate. Not to be outdone, the Government moved the district court to enter a protective order “maintaining the status quo of the Gil-berts’ alleged interests in the [Club].” The Government’s motion requested that the district court “enter an order directing that the defendant Michael S. Gilbert be required to file a petition pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 1963(0.” In other words, the Government wanted Michael Gilbert to claim a third-party interest in Kramer’s forfeited property, just as the other non-defendants had done in the ancillary proceedings. In support of its motion, the Government argued that Michael Gilbert “should be viewed ... in the same way as other alleged ‘owners’ of an interest in the [Club],” for example, Pierson and Coyne, who settled with the Government prior to the ancillary hearing, or Lyon, who participated in the ancillary hearing and was denied one-third of his LCP, Ltd. interest. The Government further argued that “to permit defendant Michael S. Gilbert to forgo having to do that which Lyon, Coyne and Pierson were required to do would be to permit Gilbert to forgo having to establish his alleged legitimate ownership interest, despite being the only LCP partner to be a convicted RICO defendant.” Under the Government’s reading of our 1996 decision setting aside Michael Gilbert’s forfeiture verdict, we resolved only that Michael Gilbert’s interest in the Club was improperly forfeited because it was not derived, directly or indirectly, from his racketeering activity. The Government notes in its brief that our “opinion [did] not address the issue of whether the Gilberts are entitled to their interest in the [Club] pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 1963(i) as either superior title holders ... or bona fide purchasers for value without reasonable cause to believe the property was subject to forfeiture.” Thus, the Government maintains that since Michael Gilbert’s interest in LCP, Ltd. was acquired after the violations that gave rise to Benjamin Kramer’s forfeiture, and since our 1996 decision left intact the verdict of forfeiture reaching Benjamin Kramer’s interest in the Club, the Gilberts were subsequent transferees under 18 U.S.C. § 1963(c). As such, the Government contends that the Gilberts should be required to show that they acquired their interests without cause to believe that it was subject to forfeiture. Following a hearing, the district court denied the Government’s request for a protective order and contemporaneously entered an order on the mandate. The district court reasoned that the Government’s argument, “however sound and well-reasoned it might be ... could have been pursued much earlier in these proceedings. The government could have raised this during the ancillary proceedings, the appeal and the petition for rehearing or have sought certiorari in the Supreme Court, but did not. As such, the government has waived this issue. United States v. Thompson, 710 F.2d 1500 (11th Cir.1983).” The Government filed a motion for reconsideration, which the district court denied on March 10, 1997. The Government then took this appeal. II. A. As a threshold matter, we must address the Gilberts’ challenge that we lack jurisdiction to hear this appeal. The Government maintains that 28 U.S.C. § 1291 is a proper basis for our jurisdiction because the district court’s denial of the Government’s request for a protective order conclusively resolves conflicting ownership interests in the Club. As such, the Government posits that its appeal is from a final judgment. The Gilberts, on the other hand, contend that section 1291 is not a proper basis for the Government’s appeal because section 1291 does not authorize the United States to appeal final orders in criminal cases. See United States v. Horak, 833 F.2d 1235, 1247 n. 10 (7th Cir.1987). The Government side-steps the fact that section 1291 is inapplicable to government appeals from criminal cases by asserting that the Government is “appealing the district court’s ruling in the ancillary forfeiture proceeding, and not the criminal proceeding against Gilbert himself.” The Government’s brief also emphasizes that its appeal relates to the district court’s order denying the Government’s request “to require [the Gilberts and the Trust] to file third-party petitions in the ancillary proceeding relating to the criminal forfeiture of [Benjamin] Kramer’s interest” in the Club. In other words, the Government seeks to use the 1990-91 ancillary proceeding regarding Benjamin Kramer’s forfeited property as the basis for its requested protective order. 1. The question which confronts us at this stage is whether a third-party proceeding ancillary to a criminal forfeiture prosecution is a criminal or civil proceeding for the purposes of a government appeal. If a section 1963(7) ancillary proceeding is civil in nature, as the Government contends, then our jurisdiction over the appeal would be proper; but if the ancillary proceeding is criminal in nature, the Government would lack statutory authorization to bring this appeal under section 1291. See Horak, 833 F.2d at 1247 n. 10 (“Nothing in section 1291 grants the executive the power to appeal all (or for that matter any) final orders in criminal cases.”). Surprisingly, no other circuit has addressed this question directly. In United States v. Douglas, 55 F.3d 584 (11th Cir.1995), we held that an ancillary proceeding pursuant to 21 U.S.C. § 853(n) was “a civil action” for the purpose of allowing a third party to recover attorneys’ fee awards against the United States under the Equal Access to Justice Act. Douglas involved a third-party claimant who filed a petition opposing criminal forfeiture of certain property under a provision of the statute identical to section 1963(Z). Id. at 586 & n. 9. After prevailing on a summary judgment motion and thereby successfully establishing his claim to the forfeited property,- the third-party moved for attorney’s fees pursuant to the EAJA. Id. at 586. Finding that “the government apparently made no investigation into factual background prior to seeking forfeiture,” the district court awarded the third-party approximately $21,000 in attorney’s fees. Id. (internal quotation omitted). On appeal, the government argued that a third-party proceeding ancillary to a criminal forfeiture prosecution was not a civil case and therefore the assessment of fees against the government was in error. The Douglas court’s section 853(n) analysis applies just as easily to section 1963(i). See United States v. Bissell, 866 F.2d 1343, 1348 n. 3 (11th Cir.1989) (“[O]ur discussion and holdings apply equally to the forfeiture provisions in 21 U.S.C. § 853 as to those found in 18 U.S.C. § 1963.”). The Douglas court first looked at the nature of a section 853(n) proceeding and noted that “[o]nce a criminal forfeiture prosecution has been filed, third parties are expressly barred by 21 U.S.C. § 853(k)(2) from ‘commene[ing] an action at law or equity against the United States concerning the validity of [their] interest in the property’ except ‘as provided in [section 853(n) ].’ ” Douglas, 55 F.3d at 586 (alterations and emphasis in original); see also 18 U.S.C. § 1963(i)(2) (containing language analogous to § 853(k)(2)). From this provision, the Douglas court gleaned that a section 853(n) suit was meant to operate as a “substitute for separate civil litigation against the government.” Id. (emphasis in original). In a footnote, the court further buttressed its conclusion that “Congress considered this ancillary proceeding to be essentially civil” by turning to the legislative history of section 1963(Z). Id. at n. 9. There the court found that Congress intended that third-party petitions ancillary to a criminal forfeiture take the place of civil cases, and that such a procedure would enable innocent parties to adjudicate their property interests swiftly instead of having to file separate civil suits. Id. We find that the Douglas court’s analysis applies beyond the mere confines of determining whether ancillary proceedings are “civil actions” within the meaning of the EAJA. For the same reasons expressed in Douglas, we conclude that a third-party petition filed under section 1963(Z) is civil in nature even though it is ancillary to a criminal forfeiture trial. Accordingly, we believe that the Government can properly appeal the district court’s denial of its motion for a protective order relating to the Government’s interest in Benjamin Kramer’s forfeited property. 2. While we agree with the Government that section 1963(Z) ancillary proceedings should be considered civil proceedings for the purposes of appellate review, we disagree that section 1291 is a proper basis for our jurisdiction in the instant appeal. The Government’s motion for a “protective order” requested that the district court: (1) “enter an order directing that the defendant Michael S. Gilbert be required to file a petition pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 1963(i) within thirty (30) days” and (2) “enter a Protective Order maintaining the status quo of the Gilberts’ alleged interests in the [Club] until” the district court resolved the issue in (1) above. While the Government’s motion is couched as request for a protective order, this designation is nothing more than smoke and mirrors. In effect, the Government has taken a request for an injunction — ordering Michael Gilbert to file a third-party petition pursuant to section 1963(Z) — and cleverly dressed it up to look like a request for a protective order. It is clear from the language of the Government’s motion that the “status quo” of the Gilberts’ property stands or falls upon the district court’s decision to grant (or deny) the injunction. We conclude, therefore, that the Government’s motion should be properly treated as a request for an injunction. Cf Chatman v. Spillers, 44 F.3d 923, 924 (11th Cir.1995) (finding jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1292(a)(1) because plaintiffs’ request for an order directing the defendants to call special elections could be characterized appropriately as an injunction). Because we believe that the district court’s refusal to grant the Government’s request is more appropriately labeled a denial of an injunction, we find that 28 U.S.C. § 1292(a)(1) is the appropriate jurisdictional basis for our review in this case. The Government’s misidentification of the proper jurisdictional basis, however, is not fatal to its appeal. Spartacus, Inc. v. Borough of McKees Rocks, 694 F.2d 947, 949 n. 4 (3d Cir.1982) (reviewing the merits of the action even though both the appellant and appellee incorrectly relied on section 1291 for appellate jurisdiction when in fact section 1292(a)(1) was proper). Having assured ourselves that this appeal is properly before us, we now proceed to the merits of the Government’s argument. B. A mixed standard of review applies when a district court grants or denies an injunction. We review the district court’s decision to grant or deny an injunction for clear abuse of discretion, United States v. Bd. of Educ. of Greene County, Mississippi, 332 F.2d 40, 45-46 (5th Cir.1964), but underlying questions of law are reviewed de novo. United States v. Pruitt, 174 F.3d 1215, 1219 (11th Cir.1999) (“ ‘A district court by definition abuses its discretion when it makes an error of law.’ ”) (quoting Koon v. United States, 518 U.S. 81, 100, 116 S.Ct. 2035, 2041, 135 L.Ed.2d 392 (1996)). The Government’s position assumes that the district court has the power to enter an injunction requiring the Gilberts and the Trust to file third-party petitions in the ancillary proceeding relating to Kramer’s forfeited property. Since this assumption is a purely legal one, we review it de novo. III. A. The Government must demonstrate a substantive or procedural right before it may obtain an injunctive remedy. Thus, we must look to RICO’s statutory forfeiture scheme to determine whether it grants the Government a right to force third-parties to file petitions in a section 1963(Z) ancillary proceeding. 1. The RICO statute, introduced into law by the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970, “was intended to provide new weapons of unprecedented scope for an assault upon organized crime and its economic roots” by providing “enhanced sanctions and new remedies to deal with the unlawful activities of those engaged in organized crime.” Russello v. United States, 464 U.S. 16, 26-27, 104 S.Ct. 296, 302, 78 L.Ed.2d 17 (1983) (citing Pub.L. No. 91-452, 84 Stat. 922, 923 (1970)) (quotations omitted). One such weapon in the RICO arsenal was the forfeiture scheme, which sought to strike at the heart of an illegal enterprise by confiscating tainted property and proceeds in hopes of putting the criminal enterprise out of business. See United States v. Angiulo, 897 F.2d 1169, 1213 (1st Cir.1990). This weapon, however, has often left third-party property holders feeling particularly vulnerable when, for instance, “their property appears to be the defendant’s and the defendant is ordered to forfeit that property to the Government.” See United States v. Schwimmer, 968 F.2d 1570, 1573 (2d Cir.1992). Surprisingly, from RICO’s enactment in 1970 until 1984, RICO’s forfeiture provisions contained no procedure by which a third-party property holder could adjudicate his claim to forfeited property. Instead, an innocent third-party who claimed an interest in forfeited property could only petition the Attorney General, who had been exclusively charged with making “due provision for the rights of innocent persons.” 18 U.S.C. § 1963(c) (1984), amended by Pub.L. 98-473 (1984). Compounding the problem, third-parties who were dissatisfied with the Attorney General’s final decision regarding their ownership claim were unable to obtain judicial review of the Attorney General’s decision. See S.Rep. No. 98-225, at 209 (1990), reprinted in 1984 U.S.C.C.A.N. 3182, 3392. Fourteen years after RICO’s enactment, Congress recognized the inequity inherent in such a procedure and amended the statute by enacting the Comprehensive Crime Control Act, Pub.L. No. 98-473, 98 Stat. 1837. See id. at 3390-91. The amendment set up an orderly procedure whereby third-parties whose property interests had been criminally forfeited could challenge the validity of the forfeiture order and establish their legitimate ownership interests in the district court. Under current RICO forfeiture provisions, third-parties must wait for a final order of forfeiture in the criminal trial before they can “hale the government into [court]” to adjudicate their interests in forfeited property. United States v. Kramer, 912 F.2d 1257, 1261 (11th Cir.1990); see also 18 U.S.C. § 1963(i). The order of forfeiture is a required element of sentencing for criminal RICO violations and is entered as part of the final judgment. 18 U.S.C. § 3554; 18 U.S.C. § 1963(e); Fed.R.Crim.P. 32(d)(2); United States v. L’Hoste, 609 F.2d 796, 809-13 (5th Cir.1980) (holding that forfeiture is a mandatory element of sentencing for a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1962); United States v. Derman, 211 F.3d 175, 182 n. 9 (1st Cir.2000) (“[T]he forfeiture order entered at sentencing is called ‘final order of forfeiture’ and ... is appealable.”). Once an order of forfeiture has been handed down (as part of the final judgment), the court, pursuant to Fed.R.Crim.P. 32(d)(2), may authorize the Attorney General to “seize the property subject to forfeiture” and begin carrying out “statutory requirements pertaining to ancillary hearings and the rights of third parties.” Fed. R.Crim.P. 32(d)(2) (1996). One such statutory requirement is that the government “publish notice of the order and .... to the extent practicable, provide direct written notice to any person known to have alleged an interest in the property.” 18 U.S.C. § 1963(Z)(1). The government’s obligation to give constructive notice to all potential third-parties, and preferably direct notice to known third parties with an interest in the forfeited property, is a vital requirement of RICO’s forfeiture provisions since the property rights of third-parties who do not file petitions in the ancillary proceeding are automatically extinguished. See 18 U.S.C. § 1963(0(7). Next, the statute defines the class of people who are entitled to challenge the order of forfeiture and sets forth the time limits applicable to such challenges: Any person other than the defendant, asserting a legal interest in property which has been ordered forfeited to the United States pursuant to this section may, within thirty days of the final publication of notice or his receipt of notice under paragraph (1), whichever is earlier, petition the court for a hearing to adjudicate the validity of his alleged interest in the property. The hearing shall be held before the court alone, without a jury. 18 U.S.C. § 1963(0(2). The filing of third-party claims, therefore, is reserved to persons other than the defendant who claim to have a “legal interest” in the forfeited property. Additionally, third-parties must file their petitions within thirty days from receipt or final publication of notice, or lose the right to establish their interest in the forfeited property. By specifically barring third-parties from intervening in the criminal trial, 18 U.S.C. § 1963(k), it is clear that Congress intended section 1963(f) proceedings to provide the exclusive means for third-parties to assert their claims to forfeited property. Cf. United States v. Phillips, 185 F.3d 183, 186 (4th Cir.1999) (applying analogous provisions of 21 U.S.C. § 853(n)). Section 1963(i) also limits the grounds upon which a third-party petitioner may rely to establish his interest in the property. To establish his legitimate entitlement to the forfeited property, the petitioner must show that (1) title to the property was vested in him rather than the defendant at the time of the act which made the property subject to forfeiture; (2) his title to the property was superior to the title held by the defendant at the time of the act which made the property subject to forfeiture; or (3) that he purchased his interest without reasonable cause to know that the property was subject to forfeiture. See 18 U.S.C. § 1963(i )(6)(A) — (B) (reprinted in full supra, n. 30). By successfully establishing one of these three grounds, the petitioner defeats the government’s entitlement under the forfeiture order. See 18 U.S.C. § 1963(Z)(6) (“[T]he court shall amend the order of forfeiture in accordance with its determination.”) (emphasis added). Not to be overlooked, however, is that the third-party petitioner, and not the government, bears the burden of proving one of these limited grounds by a preponderance of the evidence. Congress chose to place the burden of proof on the third-party during the ancillary proceeding, since the government would necessarily have carried its burden of proving that the defendant’s interest in the property was subject to forfeiture during the criminal trial. See S.Rep. No. 98-225, at 209 (1990), reprinted in 1984 U.S.C.C.A.N. 3182, 3392. Finally, section 1963(i) declares that “[fjollowing the court’s disposition of all petitions filed under this subsection, or if no such petitions are filed following the expiration of the period provided in paragraph (2) for the filing of such petitions, the United States shall have clear title to property that is the subject of the order of forfeiture and may warrant good title to any subsequent purchaser or transferee.” 18 U.S.C. § 1963(0(7). As the foregoing reveals, a section 1963(0 ancillary proceeding is essentially a quiet title proceeding. First, the jury’s special verdict of forfeiture establishes the extent of the defendant’s interest in a certain forfeitable asset. Next, the forfeiture order, in effect, puts the government in the defendant’s shoes and the government succeeds to whatever interest, if any, that defendant had in the property. The section 1963(i) ancillary proceeding then enables certain third-parties to file claims in order to establish their interest in the defendant’s (now the government’s) property. If one or more of the third-party claims is successful, the court releases those interests and amends its order of forfeiture accordingly. See 18 U.S.C. § 1963(i )(6). The language of the statute makes clear that if a third-party does not file a petition in the ancillary proceeding within thirty days of receipt or publication of notice, his rights in the defendant’s forfeited property are automatically extinguished and the government obtains “clear title to property that is the subject of the order of forfeiture and may warrant good title to any subsequent purchaser or transferee.” 18 U.S.C. § 1963(i)(7). By virtue of its forfeiture judgment and the fact that the time for filing ancillary petitions has run or such proceedings have been concluded, the government succeeds as against the world to the defendant’s property. In other words, the government has effectively quieted its title to the defendant’s property and owns it outright. 2. Applying the section 1963(Z) model to the instant case, we note initially that the condition precedent to an ancillary proceeding — the entry of a final order of forfeiture — has apparently not been met. In sentencing Benjamin Kramer on August 29, 1990, the district court failed to enter a judgment of forfeiture as required by 18 U.S.C. § 3554, 18 U.S.C. § 1963(e), and Rule 32(b) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. The order of forfeiture upon which the parties rely — entered immediately following the jury verdicts on April 3, 1990 — was not part of Kramer’s sentence, and therefore could have done nothing more than temporarily restrain the property pending sentencing. That order was superseded by the court’s final judgment on August 29, which made no mention of forfeiture. As noted supra in Part III.A.1., third-parties cannot petition the court to adjudicate their interests in forfeited property until a final order of forfeiture has been entered in the criminal case. If such an order was ever entered against Benjamin Kramer, we are unable to locate it in the record. Rather, the final judgment in the criminal case only sentenced Kramer to prison confinement and a fine. This fact alone is sufficient to affirm the denial of the Government’s request, because third-parties such as the Gilberts are not permitted to file section 1963(i) petitions in the absence of a final order of forfeiture. Given the convoluted nature of this case, however, and the fact that the parties have long relied on the existence of a final order of forfeiture, we shall defer our consideration of the issue. For the moment, we will assume that a final order of forfeiture was entered, and turn to 18 U.S.C. § 1963(i) to determine whether the Government can force the Gilberts to file petitions claiming an interest in Kramer’s forfeited property. 3. “In determining whether to infer a private cause of action from a federal statute, our focal point is Congress’ intent in enacting the statute.” Thompson v. Thompson, 484 U.S. 174, 179, 108 S.Ct. 513, 516, 98 L.Ed.2d 512 (1988). In Cort v. Ash, 422 U.S. 66, 78, 95 S.Ct. 2080, 2088, 45 L.Ed.2d 26 (1975), the Supreme Court set out four factors as guides to discerning that intent: (1) whether the plaintiff is one of the class for whose benefit the statute was enacted; (2) whether there is any indication of legislative intent, explicit or implicit, either to create or to deny a private remedy; (3) whether implying a private right of action is consistent with the underlying purposes of the legislative scheme; and (4) whether the cause of action is one traditionally relegated to state law, such that it would be inappropriate for the court to infer a cause of action based solely on federal law. “The intent of Congress remains the ultimate issue_ ‘[U]nless this congressional intent can be inferred from the language of the statute, the statutory structure, or some other source, the essential predicate for implication of a private remedy simply does not exist.’ ” Thompson, 484 U.S. at 179, 108 S.Ct. at 516 (quoting Northwest Airlines, Inc. v. Transport Workers, 451 U.S. 77, 94, 101 S.Ct. 1571, 1582, 67 L.Ed.2d 750 (1981)). We need not consider all four factors of the Cort analysis, as our consideration of the first two factors is dispositive. See Florida v. Seminole Tribe of Florida, 181 F.3d 1237, 1247 (11th Cir.1999) (“[W]hen an examination of one or more of the Cort factors ‘unequivocally reveals congressional intent[,] there is no need for us to trudge through all four of the factors.’ ”) (quoting Liberty Nat’l Ins. Holding Co. v. Charter Co., 734 F.2d 545, 558 (11th Cir.1984) (alteration in original)). Under Cort’s first factor, the language and legislative history of section 1963(Z) demonstrate that the statute was designed to protect only the property rights of innocent third-parties, not those of the government. Accordingly, it appears under the second factor of the Cort analysis that Congress did not intend to create the in-junctive remedy sought by the Government in this case. Indeed, there is no need for a proceeding in which the government may assert its claim to forfeited property, as the statutory scheme outlined in section 1963(0 is self-executing. That is, aside from providing the required notice, the government need not take any affirmative action if third-parties neglect to file claims to forfeited property. Even if a petition is filed, section 1963(i) places the burdens of production and persuasion on the petitioner. 18 U.S.C. § 1963(Z )(6). After the ancillary proceedings have ended, or the time for filing petitions has run, the government automatically succeeds to the remaining forfeited property by operation of law. The government need not force third-party owners to appear in court so that their interests may be extinguished; those who have notice but do not appear lose their interests by default. At the end of the ancillary proceedings, the court must amend its order of forfeiture to reflect any successful third-party claims. 18 U.S.C. § 1963(i)(6). If none of the third-party claims was successful, or if no petitions were filed during the statutory time period, the court need not amend its order. The government may, however, request an order from the court declaring that the government has met all of the statutory notice requirements, that no meritorious third-party claims were filed, and that the government has clear title to the forfeited property. The structure of RICO’s criminal forfeiture scheme clearly indicates that Congress did not expect the government to play an active role under section 1963(Z). It is well settled that, absent compelling countervailing considerations or an absurd result, we may not disregard the clear, mandatory statutory scheme erected by Congress. Rubin v. United States, 449 U.S. 424, 430, 101 S.Ct. 698, 701, 66 L.Ed.2d 633 (1981). Section 1963(Z) was enacted to allow innocent third-party owners to assert claims to forfeited property, not to assist the Government in forcing those third-parties to do so. Implying such a private cause of action in favor of the Government would directly contravene RICO’s statutory forfeiture scheme, and the Government has presented us with no compelling countervailing consideration that would justify such a decision. Thus, we hold that the Government’s requested injunction is not statutorily authorized by section 1963(Z). B. 1. As a general matter, our conclusion that section 1963(i) proceedings are self-executing greatly benefits the Government. For instance, if a house, a ear, or shares of stock were forfeited to the Government because the defendant purchased them with drug proceeds, the Government would automatically obtain clear title to any of those assets if no third-party petitions were filed before the statutory deadline. If there were any question about the propriety of the Government’s title, the Government could simply move the court for an order declaring the status of its interest based on the final order of forfeiture and the disposition of third-party petitions. The question then arises: why would the Government ask a court to force third-parties to file section 1963(i) petitions when, as a result of the third-parties’ failure to file, the Government would obtain clear title to the property automatically? 2. As a result of our 1996 opinion setting aside the order of forfeiture against Michael Gilbert, the Government is left with only that interest in property which belonged to Benjamin Kramer at the time it became subject to forfeiture. The problem, however, is that the exact nature of that interest is undetermined. In an attempt to correct fundamental errors made during the criminal trial, the district court modified the forfeiture verdict (returned on April 2) and initial order of forfeiture (entered on April 3) after it heard evidence in the ancillary proceedings. The resulting Amended Final Order purported to forfeit Kramer’s interest in LCP, Ltd,., rather than the entire Bell Gardens Bicycle Club. The court made this change despite the fact that LCP, Ltd. was not named in the indictment, verdict, or initial order of forfeiture. The Government, believing that the court’s post-trial amendment was valid, now claims title to Kramer’s interest in LCP, Ltd., rather than the Club. The dilemma presented by this purported change is that the Government does not know the extent of Kramer’s interest — and, therefore, the extent of its own interest — in LCP, Ltd. Because the jury was never instructed to determine Kramer’s interest in the partnership, his interest could conceivably range anywhere from .01 to 100 percent. Thus, what the Government has, at best, is an unspecified interest in LCP, Ltd. The question now becomes: what can the Government do with that unspecified interest? What the Government presumably wants to do is sell its interest in LCP, Ltd. This would not normally be a problem, as the time for filing third-party petitions has long passed and title to the interest has vested in the Government by operation of law. See 18 U.S.C. § 1963(Z )(7). In any other case, the Government would simply present the final order of forfeiture to the general partners of LCP, Ltd. and have the LCP, Ltd. Partnership Agreement amended to reflect the Government’s ownership interest. Of course, if the partnership agreement were not amended, a percentage of LCP, Ltd. would remain in the Gilberts’ names. A prospective purchaser, aware of the 1996 decision in which we held that those ownership interests did not derive from Michael Gilbert’s racketeering activity, would be unsure about the source of the interests and would quickly conclude that he was buying a lawsuit. Thus, the Government’s interest in LCP, Ltd. is of little, if any, value until the Government obtains clear title to it. The Government’s problem in this case is that the LCP, Ltd. Partnership Agreement cannot be amended to reflect the Government’s ownership interest because the Government has no evidence to establish what percentage of the partnership it owns. It is hardly sufficient for the Government to allege that it owns “some” of LCP, Ltd. The initial order of forfeiture contains no useful information, as it does not even mention LCP, Ltd. Moreover, the name “Kramer” is nowhere to be found on the LCP, Ltd. partnership documents, for the Kramers were either silent partners in LCP, Ltd., or simply two of the Club’s illegitimate creditors. The jury was never asked to make sense of the crucial partner/creditor distinction, or to delineate the extent of Kramer’s ownership interest in LCP, Ltd. Instead, the court waited until the ancillary proceedings following the trial to address the difficult factual questions of ownership and apportionment. At the conclusion of those proceedings, the district court found that “the real owners of the Bicycle Club were Ben Kramer, Randy Lanier, Tom, known as George Brock, and ... Gene Fisher.... The LCP partners and Gilberts, as well as [PPA] were just ‘straw persons’ for purposes of the licenses.” Kramer, 807 F.Supp. at 736. It further found that “Ben Kramer held a one-third Gé) ownership interest in LCP at the time of the commission of the acts giving rise to the forfeitability of the property.” Id. at 739. The district court’s post-trial findings, however, cannot retroactively amend the jury’s verdict. Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 31(e) gives a defendant a statutory right to have the amount of property subject to forfeiture determined by a jury. Fed.R.Crim.P. 31(e); see also Libretti v. United States, 516 U.S. 29, 48-49, 116 S.Ct. 356, 367-68, 133 L.Ed.2d 271 (1995); United States v. Candelaria-Silva, 166 F.3d 19, 43 (1st Cir.1999). Had the Government targeted LCP, Ltd. from the outset, Rule 31(e) would have required that the jury be instructed to identify (1) the interest, if any, each defendant held in LCP, Ltd., and (2) how much of each defendant’s interest was subject to forfeiture. Instead, the court created its own “simplified special verdict forms,” which, like the indictment and jury instructions, focused on the Bell Gardens Bicycle Club. The verdict forms merely asked whether the Club “constituted or was derived from any proceeds which [the defendant] obtained directly or indirectly from racketeering activity,” and if so, “whether The Bell Gardens Bicycle Club [was] subject to forfeiture.” Since the verdict forms did not even suggest that LCP, Ltd. was an item of forfeitable property, the jury never had occasion to consider the extent of any defendant’s interest in the partnership. Because the court’s “simplified” forms did not ask the jury to identify any defendant’s interest in LCP, Ltd. or to determine whether that interest was subject to forfeiture, those questions must remain unanswered. Absent a waiver by defendants of their Rule 31(e) right to a jury determination of forfeiture, the court has no authority to amend the jury’s verdict. See United States v. Bomfield, 145 F.3d 1123,1138-39 (10th Cir.1998) (holding that where a jury verdict was invalid because it erroneously forfeited defendant’s business, rather than personal, bank account, the trial court’s forfeiture order could not stand absent a waiver of a jury trial on the issue of forfeiture). In short, then, the Government cannot know what percentage of LCP, Ltd. it holds, because the jury never made that determination. 3. Let us assume, arguendo, that the district court could