Brazilian businesswoman Lia Maria Aguiar has an estimated net worth of $1.3 billion as of March 2013 according to Forbes. She is known to be the adopted daughter of Amador Aguiar, a deceased Brazilian banker. Amador Aguiar founded Bradesco bank which is considered as the largest bank in Brazil.

When Amador died in 1991, it sparked a legal dispute between his three daughters and his recently married wife. He and his wife, who was 40 years his junior, got married only five months before Amador's death. The wife requested that his three daughters should undergo DNA testing to prove his paternity to them, as well as to disqualify them from their inheritance. The three won the case. Lina and Lia Aguiar immediately became billionaires while their other sister Maria Angela did not make it to the billionaire's list. The two's wealth were significantly higher than Maria Angela's because they own stakes in Bradesco Bank.

Most of Amador Aguiar's wealth was left to his foundation, Bradesco Foundation. The foundation which was founded in 1956 pursues educational causes. It was in 2008 when Lia Maria Aguiar launched her own foundation, the Fundacao Lia Maria Aguiar.