Prosecutors say an audio recording from a wire worn by a would-be hit man appear to catch former rock bank singer and health supplements millionaire Dino Guglielmelli attempting to have his wife killed.

"You want her dead, 100 percent?" Richard Furhmann asks Guglielmelli, according to the recording obtained by KABC-TV, the Los Angeles station owned by ABC.

"Why wouldn't I?" Guglielmelli responds.

Guglielmelli, who is behind bars as his trial in Los Angeles court approaches next week, has been accused of hiring Furhmann, a friend and business associate, to kill his wife, Monica Olsen.

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Guglielmelli, 52, and Olsen, 32, were apparently locked in a bitter divorce battle and fighting for custody of their two daughters.

Guglielmelli has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and solicitation of murder charges.

In the Oct. 1 recording, Guglielmelli is talking to his friend Furhmann. Prosecutors say Guglielmelli had no idea that Furhmann was wearing a wire.

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According to the Los Angeles District Attorney's office, the tape - a portion of which is transcribed here - Guglielmelli appears to affirm his desire to have Olsen killed.

Furhmann: I'll ask you a simple question. You're positive?

Guglielmelli: That what?

Furhmann: You want her dead, 100 percent?

Guglielmelli: Why wouldn't I?

Furhmann: By the time we are out of lunch it's already done. You just need to figure out how to pay me.

Guglielmelli: Oh, I'll pay you.

Furhmann: How much?

Guglielmelli: You already told me how much.

Furhmann: Eighty Thousand?

Guglielmelli: That's what you told me

The recording is a potentially key piece of evidence, but Guglielmelli's attorney says the tape tells a far different story.

"He was manipulated by somebody who was trying to help himself," Anthony Brooklier, Guglielmelli's defense attorney, said. "He does all the talking. He's the one that is, in my view, soliciting."

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In a statement to ABC News, Olsen said she has "been living scared for a long time and just wants this nightmare to end."

The California couple once seemed to have it all, including a sprawling mansion in Southern California.

Guglielmelli is the founder of Creations Garden, a multimillion-dollar natural products company that distributed Olsen's successful skincare line - Skin by Monica Olsen - to drugstores nationwide.

Since his October arrest on the charges, he has lost his company and filed for bankruptcy. He remains jailed because he is unable to pay $10 million in bail.