Tyson's money,lust known to accuser, 4 say

INDIANAPOLIS -- Mike Tyson's money and lust were no secret to the 18-year-old beauty pageant contestant who alleges he raped her last summer, according to the testimony of four pageant contestants.

As Mr. Tyson's rape trial resumed after a one-day disruption, two Miss Black America pageant contestants testified yesterday that the ex-champ's accuser seemed more interested in his cash than his company.

Madelyn Whittington, a pageant contestant from Milwaukee, said she saw Mr. Tyson's accuser in the restroom after Mr. Tyson had met the woman at a pageant rehearsal. The accuser told Ms. Whittington that Mr. Tyson had asked her out.

". . . He's got a lot of money. He's dumb. You see what Robin Givens got out of him?" Ms. Whittington recalled her as saying.

Three of the defense witnesses painted a picture of an openly predatory Mr. Tyson propositioning many contestants.

The prosecution has portrayed the accuser as a sheltered schoolgirl who was lured unknowingly to Mr. Tyson's hotel suite and then violently raped.

In her testimony last week, she denied making any comments or knowing about Mr. Tyson's loutish behavior.