Nekia S. Hackworth

Nekia Hackworth is a powerhouse litigator and strategic advisor with more than two decades of experience in government enforcement and private practice. A former SEC Deputy Director of Enforcement and seasoned federal prosecutor, she knows how the government investigates, charges, and tries complex financial crime — and deploys that knowledge to protect clients facing their most consequential challenges.

At the SEC, Nekia led more than 250 Enforcement professionals across Washington, D.C., Atlanta, and Miami, supervising investigations into securities fraud, market manipulation, insider trading, and compliance failures.

As a former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, she prosecuted complex criminal cases spanning tax, securities, and health care fraud; public corruption; and violent crime, taking nearly a dozen to verdict and arguing three Eleventh Circuit appeals. She also shaped national fraud enforcement policy as an Associate Deputy Attorney General and Executive Director of the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force in Washington, D.C.

At Jones Day, Nekia defends corporations and executives in government investigations and white collar matters. Earlier in her career, at another Am Law 100 firm, Nekia secured declinations for a dialysis clinic facing federal and state False Claims Act investigations, defended a tax preparer under investigation for tax and COVID-19 fraud, led sensitive internal investigations for public and private universities, and defended health care companies under federal investigation for False Claims Act and Anti-Kickback Statute violations.

Nekia counsels clients on compliance, regulatory risk, and crisis response — bringing prosecutorial instinct, regulatory authority, and trial-tested advocacy to bear when the stakes are highest.