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.
(..) Strucker knew something that Ultron wanted us to miss. Yeah, I bet he... ...yep. Everything we had on Strucker has been erased. Not everything. Known associates... Well, Strucker had a lot of friends. Well, these people are all horrible. Wait. I know that guy. (..)2015 Avengers: Age of Ultron