He is a known 'associate' of criminals. [=he is known to associate with criminals; people know that he works with or spends time with criminals]
She was promoted from assistant editor to 'associate' editor and may soon be promoted to senior editor.
He was 'associated' [='connected, identified'] 'with' a group of radicals in the government.
(..) - For what? I wish I had time for eventually. Who was it? Maxwell Dillon, electrical engineer. No associates or friends to speak of. He submitted specs for the grid, that we...appropriated... caused it invisible. Wall Street is nervous enough of that child, Harry, taking over. (..)2014 The Amazing Spider-Man 2