Judge Richard Berman said Friday that he intends to dismiss a juror over sleeping during the trial of Mehmet Hakan Atilla, the former director of Halkbank accused of violating now-lifted US sanction against Iran.

Berman said the juror has been 'really sound asleep, not just dozing' during the testimony.

Turkish- Iranian businessman Reza Zarrab on Wednesday accepted all the charges against him and agreed to cooperate with U.S. prosecutors as a witness against Atilla.

Zarrab was detained last year in Miami on charges of violating sanctions against Iran, while Atilla was arrested in the U.S. earlier this year on similar sanctions violations charges.

The trial began on Tuesday.

Turkey recently launched a probe against the U.S. prosecutors connected to the case.

Istanbul prosecutors accused former U.S. attorney for the southern district of New York, Preet Bharara, and his replacement Joon H. Kim of using information and documents from an old Turkish investigation in their case.

Bharara, who launched the probe into Zarrab, was fired on March 11 as part of a mass Trump administration housecleaning of the U.S. attorneys who served under President Barack Obama.

Turkish authorities have called on the U.S. administration to drop the case involving Zarrab, saying it "lacks legal grounds."