Onion Futures Act

In the 1950s, two men tried to corner the market on onions on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and manipulate futures contracts. Then Congress took up legislation to expressly forbid contracts for the sale of onion futures.

Research:

• Butz, Earl L. “VINCENT W KOSUGA, SAM S. SIEGEL, AND NATIONAL PRODUCE DISTRIBUTORS, INC.” Docket 73. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. CEA Cases. 6/18/1956. https://www.cftc.gov/sites/default/files/idc/groups/public/@lrceacases/documents/ceacases/kosuga-jun1956-644.pdf
• Chicago Tribune. “Chicago Onion Dealer Named for Price Fix.” 6/22/1956. Page 43.
• Chicago Tribune. “Siegel Denies Manipulating Onion Futures.” 6/22/1956. Page 43.
• Commodity Exchange Authority. “Futures Trading in Onions.” United States Department of Agriculture. December 1956.
• Commodity Futures Trading Commission. “History of the CFTC.” https://www.cftc.gov/About/HistoryoftheCFTC/history_precftc.html
• Commodity Futures Trading Commission. “VINCENT W. KOSUGA, SAM S. SIEGEL, AND NATIONAL PRODUCE DISTRIBUTORS, INC.” Decision and Order. 6/3/1960. https://www.cftc.gov/sites/default/files/idc/groups/public/@lrceacases/documents/ceacases/kosuga-jun1960-555.pdf
• Lambert, Emily. “The Futures: the Rise of the Speculator and the Origins of the World’s Biggest Markets.” Basic Books. 2011.
• Miller, Rena S. “Introduction to Derivatives and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.” U.S. Congress. Report. 3/13/2025. https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R48451
• Mininger, Wayne. “Public Comment: Agricultural Commodity Definition, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Final Rule: Pages 25-26.” SEC. https://www.sec.gov/comments/s7-16-11/s71611-13.pdf
• NPR Planet Money. “Episode 657: The Tale Of The Onion King.” 10/14/2015. https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2015/10/14/448718171/episode-657-the-tale-of-the-onion-king
• Romer, Keith and Robert Smith. “The tale of the Onion King (Update).” NPR Planet Money. 6/22/2022. https://www.npr.org/2022/06/22/1106861476/the-tale-of-the-onion-king-update
• Romer, Keith. “The Great Onion Corner And The Futures Market.” NPR Planet Money/Morning Edition. 10/22/2015. https://www.npr.org/2015/10/22/450769853/the-great-onion-corner-and-the-futures-market
• S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. “Vincent W. Kosuga, Plaintiff-appellee, v. Jack H. Kelly, Defendant-appellant, 257 F.2d 48 (7th Cir. 1958).” October 13, 1958. https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/257/48/78496/
• S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. “Chicago Mercantile Exchange v. Tieken, 178 F. Supp. 779 (N.D. Ill. 1959).” 12/2/1959. https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/178/779/1642330/
• S. Supreme Court. “Kelly v. Kosuga, 358 U.S. 516 (1959).” 2/24/1959. https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/358/516/
• Warwick Valley Dispatch. “Vince Kosuga to be Named Pine Island Citizen of the ” 10/14/1987. https://www.pineislandny.com/Scrapbook/0048_sp_sm.pdf
• Binghamton Press Bureau. “Both Engines Are Torn Off as Ship Makes Forced Landing.” Binghamton Press and Sun-Bulletin. Page 1. 9/7/1948.
• Roesch, Roberta Fleming. “Couple’s Success Recipe: ‘We Know Our Onions.’” Wilkes-Barre Record. Page 9. 10/23/1964.

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