A company owned by the Spirit Lake Dakotah Nation of North Dakota is looking towards the future after resolving a lawsuit and surviving a Department of Justice probe.

Sioux Manufacturing Corp paid $1.9 million in December 2007 to settle a False Claims Act lawsuit. Whistleblowers accused the firm making inadequate protective material for soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan although there was no evidence anyone was injured.

Despite the investigation, the company continued to win government contracts. It has annual sales of $25 to $40 million and employs 190 to 210 people, 85 percent of whom are American Indian, the Associated Press reported.

“I see this company continuing. I just can’t see this place closing. It’s been here too long," CEO Carl McKay, a former chairman of the tribe, told the AP.

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