Cruel to redistribute riches (5)
I believe the answer is:
lucre
'riches' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'cruel to redistribute' is the wordplay.
'to redistribute' indicates an anagram (I've seen 'redistributed' mean this (I've seen this in other clues)).
'cruel' with letters rearranged gives 'LUCRE'.
(Other definitions for lucre that I've seen before include "Ill-gotten riches" , "tin" , "ill-gotten gain" , "Money or wealth" , "Cruel kind of money, may be filthy" .)