Universitas Education v. Phoenix Charitable Trust

── Universitas Education v. Phoenix Charitable Trust ── Court: Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit Date: May 15, 2026 Category: General Appellate Case: 25-6073 Document: 59 Date Filed: 05/15/2026 Page: 1 FILED United States Court of Appeals PUBLISH Tenth Circuit UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS May 15, 2026 Christopher M. Wolpert FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT Clerk of Court _________________________________ UNIVERSITAS EDUCATION, LLC, Petitioner - Appellee, v. NOVA GROUP, INC.; SDM HOLDINGS, LLC, Respondents. ------------------------------ PHOENIX CHARITABLE TRUST, Interested Party - Appellant, No. 25-6073 v. AVON CAPITAL, LLC, a Connecticut limited liability company, Intervenor, and ASSET SERVICING GROUP, LLC, Garnishee. ------------------------------ RYAN T. LEONARD, Receiver. _________________________________  Appellate Case: 25-6073 Document: 59 Date Filed: 05/15/2026 Page: 2 Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma (D.C. No. 5:14-FJ-00005-HE) _________________________________ Jeffery R. Sandberg of Palmer Lehman Sandberg, PLLC, Dallas, Texas, for Interested- Party-Appellant Phoenix Charitable Trust. Joshua C. Greenhaw of Mee Hawkings Greenhaw & Cotner, PLLP, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (Joseph L. Manson, III of Law Offices of Joseph L. Manson III, Alexandria, Virginia, with him on the briefs) for Petitioner-Appellee. _________________________________ Before HARTZ, KELLY, and TYMKOVICH, Circuit Judges. _________________________________ HARTZ, Circuit Judge. _________________________________ This is an appeal by a nonparty of three orders issued by the district court. We dismiss the appeal because the nonparty lacks standing to raise its challenges to the three orders. I. BACKGROUND Universitas Education, LLC was the sole beneficiary of $30 million worth of life-insurance policies held in Charter Oak Trust, which was formed by Daniel Carpenter. In June 2008 the insurer paid out the policy proceeds plus interest to Charter Oak. Universitas is still trying to fully recover that money. By 2010, Carpenter controlled “hundreds” of “shell entities,” which he used “to hide assets from” Universitas. Universitas Educ., LLC v. Nova Grp., Inc. (Universitas I), No. 11CV1590-LTS-HBP, 2014 WL 3883371, at *2 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 7, 2014). Carpenter has been convicted of fraud, and Universitas has obtained a judgment in New York 2  Appellate Case: 25-6073 Document: 59 Date Filed: 05/15/2026 Page: 3 federal district court enforcing a favorable arbitration award against various Carpenter shell companies through which he has funneled his ill-gotten gains. Universitas registered (and later needed to reregister) the New York judgment in the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma and obtained a judgment against several Carpenter entities, including Avon Capital, LLC (Avon). Avon is the owner of SDM Holdings, LLC, which is incorporated in Oklahoma (SDM-OK). This court affirmed the judgment for Universitas and the authorization of a receivership over Avon. See Universitas Educ., LLC v. Avon Cap., LLC (Universitas II), 124 F.4th 1231, 1238 (10th Cir. 2024). The receiver was directed to take steps (as appropriate) to preserve Avon’s assets. The appellant, Phoenix Charitable Trus