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.
(..) - Would you mind grabbing that? - What? The gun. I'm gonna be cleaning out the cash drawers... ...and my associate here is gonna handle the vault. All right, you! You help my friend, okay? Let's go! I'm sorry, ma'am. (..)2003 Big Fish