An attorney disbarred in New Jersey for misappropriating client funds is not eligible for a license to sell insurance, an appeals court has ruled.

Dean Orloff claimed the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance violated the Rehabilitated Convicted Offender Act when it refused to issue him an insurance producer license. That act says state licensing authorities should not disqualify or discriminate against any person based on a criminal conviction or disorderly persons offense. But the act does not permit the DBI to waive the statutory provision mandating Orloff’s disqualification for committing a fraudulent act that did not result in a criminal conviction, the appeals court said.