Enlarge / Martin Shkreli arrives at Brooklyn Federal Court on the first day of his securities fraud trial in 2017. (credit: Getty | Kevin Hagen)

In an effort to avoid being held in contempt of court, former pharmaceutical executive and convicted fraudster, Martin Shkreli, made an eyebrow-raising argument to a federal judge Friday, stating that his company Druglike, which he previously described as a “drug discovery software platform,” was not engaged in drug discovery. As such, he argued he is not in violation of his sweeping lifetime ban from the pharmaceutical industry.

Last month, the Federal Trade Commission and seven states urged a federal judge in New York to hold Shkreli in contempt for allegedly failing to cooperate with an investigation into whether he violated the ban. The FTC said Shkreli failed to turn over requested documents related to Druglike and sit for an interview on the matter.

In the filing Friday, Shkreli claims that he responded to the FTC’s requests “promptly and in good faith.” He acknowledged that when the FTC contacted him about the investigation last October he did not have a lawyer and didn’t know how to properly respond to the FTC’s investigation. But, he continued to categorically deny that Druglike violated his lifetime ban.