The entire point is that she was allowed to make what is normally a $12000 investment for only $1000
Yeah, because she borrowed $11,000 on top of her $1,000 of capital. This is not illegal.
the ROI she was getting even with the supposed leveraging is highly improbable.
Why?
Sure, some money was likely from futures, but if she could turn 1k into 60k in a year, why would she stop trading?
Better question: If she was doing something illegal, why would she quit doing it if it seemed to be working perfectly?