I don't think this is correct. What nixed any plan by Rich to travel back to the U.S. was that Clinton's pardon was limited to what a presidential pardon could address: Rich's Federal crimes. Rich was also facing prosecution for additional crimes at the state level, and no U.S. president has the authority to grant pardons in those cases.
As an FYI ... when a person leaves the U.S. to avoid prosecution (or for any other reason), any statutes of limitation for crimes he/she may have committed are effectively suspended while the person is out of the country. So if Marc Rich were to come back to the U.S. right now, the statute of limitations in the state cases wouldn't begin to run until he set foot on U.S. soil.
Of course, you are so-o-o-o right.
Like everything about this sleazy pardon, suckups like Clinton and Holder——and users like Rich——concocted a phony sob story to make the outrageous pardon more palatable to us “little people.”