The juror, whose failure to disclose his past abuse has clouded the guilty verdict against Ms. Maxwell, would be granted immunity from prosecution in exchange for his testimony.
One member of the jury that convicted Ghislaine Maxwell last year may be forced to testify about whether he intentionally misled the court during the jury selection process — a key question in Ms. Maxwell’s effort to get a new trial.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan told a judge in a letter made public on Wednesday that they were seeking approval to grant immunity from prosecution to the juror, whose comments to news outlets after the trial have clouded the verdict and led Ms. Maxwell to seek a new trial.
The government’s decision came after a lawyer for the juror, a Manhattan man identified as Juror 50, said that his client would exercise his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and decline to testify at a hearing scheduled for next week, in which he has been ordered to answer questions under oath about his actions.
The office of Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, said it was in the process of seeking internal approval to grant the juror immunity in order to compel his testimony at the hearing.
Ms. Maxwell, the former companion to the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, was convicted in December of conspiring with him to recruit, groom and sexually abuse underage girls over the course of a decade or more.
Juror 50 had revealed in news interviews after the trial that he had told fellow jurors during the jury’s deliberations that he was sexually abused as a child and did not tell anyone about that abuse for years.
But in a confidential questionnaire that was administered to prospective jurors before the trial, he had checked a box responding “no” when asked whether he had ever been the victim of sexual harassment, sexual abuse or sexual assault.
The government’s decision to grant him immunity came after his lawyer, Todd A. Spodek, wrote to the judge, saying that his client would “invoke his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination” and decline to testify at a hearing, which is scheduled for Tuesday.
Mr. Spodek declined to comment.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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