By KENNETH OFGANG
Staff Writer

Citrus Municipal Court Judge Patrick Murphy is under investigation by the FBI, the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office, and the Criminal Investigations Division of the Internal Revenue Service in connection with suspected fraudulent concealment of funds, his former lawyer said yesterday.

Paul Jacobs, a Newport Beach attorney who represented Murphy in litigation related to his unsuccessful campaign for the Los Angeles Superior Court in 1996, told the MetNews he has not represented the jurist in connection with any of the matters under investigation.

Murphy did not return phone calls seeking comment in connection with the events, believed to have taken place in 1996 and 1997.

The precise nature of the suspected wrongdoing is unknown. The facts are only slowly coming into focus.

Jacobs' disclosure of the investigations is the first public confirmation from an apparently knowledgeable source.

Missing Funds

The investigations apparently relate to the disappearance of some $2 million which Murphy allegedly asked a friend, Encino sole practitioner Paul H. Ottosi, to tuck in his attorney-client trust account. Ottosi--who described himself as a former friend of the judge--has previously acknowledged receiving the money.

Otossi said the funds were wired to him by a longtime friend of Murphy, Dr. George Taus, following Murphy's conversation with him. Otossi said he subsequently paid the money out to Mary Ann Baumgarten, an Irwindale-based paralegal, on Murphy's instructions.

Jacobs, who represented Baumgarten in a related lawsuit, said it is his understanding that Murphy told Otossi the money was turned over in connection with the judge's impending divorce from attorney Susan Sweetman-Murphy. Otossi could not be reached yesterday to confirm that, but the rest of Jacobs' explanation is consistent with what Otossi has told the MetNews in recent weeks.

Las Vegas Trip

Both lawyers said that Otossi gave the money to Baumgarten in the form of multiple checks, which she and Murphy went to Las Vegas and attempted, unsuccessfully, to cash. Otossi and Jacobs also agreed that Baumgarten then took approximately $1.7 million of the money, on Murphy's instructions, to Stephen Alexander, an attorney in Azusa.

Jacobs pegged that event to January, 1997.

Baumgarten--who did not return phone calls--gave the rest of the money to Murphy, Jacobs said.

Jacobs said he was introduced to Baumgarten by Murphy, who described her as having acquired wealth in a personal injury case, which Jacobs said he later learned was untrue.

Alexander, a former Azusa mayor who was an unsuccessful candidate for the Citrus Municipal Court in 1996, and who was not available yesterday for comment, was given the money for investment purposes, Jacobs said. He kept $200,000, ostensibly as a fee, over Baumgarten's protests, Jacobs said, and delivered at least $250,000 in cash and gold to Murphy.

Baumgarten, represented by Jacobs, sued for the return of the $200,000, but her claim was dismissed. Court documents show that Alexander has a pending cross-complaint against Baumgartern, who is in bankruptcy, claiming she promised to pay him more than $300,000 and provide $8 million in financing for an offshore bank and insurance company.

Murphy was privately disciplined in 1997 by the Commission on Judicial Performance in light of information, which surfaced in his ill-fated race for a superior court open seat, that he had continued to act as lawyer for a client after assuming his municipal court judgeship.