Jake D. Pryor Associate

Jake Pryor is a former federal prosecutor and trial lawyer in the Richmond office. He represents companies, financial institutions, and individuals in government and internal investigations, white collar defense, regulatory enforcement, and related litigation. He handles matters in Virginia and North Carolina and federal matters nationwide. He spent twelve years in government service, first as a U.S. Marine Corps judge advocate, serving as both trial counsel and defense counsel, and then with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). From 2020 to 2025, he served as an Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of North Carolina, where he led high-profile investigations involving financial fraud, money laundering, cybercrime, and transnational organized crime, including matters with more than $20 million at stake. In that office, he served in the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) unit, as a Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property (CHIP) prosecutor, and on the national security team. He tried four federal jury trials to verdict, first-chairing two, and briefed and argued appeals before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He was also the sole AUSA on a multiyear OCDETF matter, leading a 38-defendant money laundering and drug trafficking conspiracy case from investigation through sentencing.

At McGuireWoods, Jake represents clients from the first subpoena or agency inquiry through resolution and post-resolution compliance. He has handled matters before DOJ, U.S. Attorney’s Offices, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and its Office of Inspector General. Much of his work involves federal grand jury subpoenas, bank regulatory inquiries, and Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering (BSA/AML) compliance under DOJ and FinCEN resolutions. His export controls work includes coordinated voluntary self-disclosures to DOJ, to the State Department under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), and to the Commerce Department under the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). His clients include companies in banking and financial services, defense and aerospace, consumer products, life sciences, and energy. His experience as a federal prosecutor helps him anticipate how investigators and regulators will view the facts.

Jake holds the Certified Information Privacy Professional/United States (CIPP/US) credential from the International Association of Privacy Professionals. Companies in the defense, consumer services, and technology sectors have turned to Jake to bring their matters to Jake, and he works alongside colleagues across the firm’s regulatory, privacy, and industry teams to serve them.

Jake’s work as a prosecutor earned national recognition. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service named him Federal Prosecutor of the Year through its 2025 Exceptional Prosecutorial Partnership Award, and his OCDETF cases earned Case of the Year recognition in 2022 and 2023. In 2026, the Executive Office of the President honored his DOJ work with a Special Recognition Award. He also taught criminal law as an adjunct law professor while serving as an AUSA. He remains a Major in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, where he serves as an administrative board legal advisor. At McGuireWoods, he is part of the nationally recognized Government Investigations & White Collar Litigation Department, honored by Law360 as a Practice Group of the Year.