I'm writing a paper, and this little tidbit of info is rather difficult to find.
Edit: I have been advised to offer additional information on what I have researched. This is a Wikipedia page on the rights of freed Roman slaves. I have spent about an hour so far just looking through various websites and books, however I have not come across this particular piece of information. Nearly all sources allude to the fact that a slave can become rather wealthy if set free, and we know that a lot of the wealthy families and persons owned slaves for themselves. I would appreciate any help!
Why would freedmen be prohibited from owning slaves? Freedmen were free, they had the right to own whatever the hell they wanted, that's the way property worked. I mean hell, Trimalchio's a freedman and literally the first thing that is noticed about him is that he's surrounded by slaves. In point of fact slaves could own slaves as well--though the peculium wasn't legally "ownership," in all reality it was. Again from the Satyricon there's an incident where one of Trimalchio's slaves gifts a slave that's part of his peculium to the narrator
With out going to much into technicialities, Roman law differentiates between homines liberi, free men and servi. Freedmen fell into the first category and as such they could have personal property, such as slaves. The act of liberation, the manumissio legally terminated his status as a slave, and as such he was a free man like any other (apart from a few technicialities in the relation to his former master).
I've looked for an example in case you want to look at some hard proof. This inscription is actually a nice illustration:
Tuccia Cn(aei) l(iberta) Salvia / fecit sibi et Cn(aeo) Tuccio / Cn(aei) l(iberto) Apollonio patro(no) / suo et L(ucio) Abu[rn]io(?) Iucundo / et LIO[3] et / ARIN[3] ma[tr]i(?)
"Tuccia Salvia, freedwoman of Gnaeus, made this for Gnaeus Tuccius Apollonius, freedman of Gnaeus, her patron, and Lucius Aburnius? Iucundus and Lio(missing) and Arin(missing) mother?"
So you have Tuccia Salvia, buried here, who erected a tombstone for herself and her former owner, Gnaeus Tuccius Apollonius, who was himself a freedman of Gnaeus (Tuccius). Slaves took on the first and family names (praenomen and nomen gentile) of ther former masters, while adding their former slave name (slaves were only entitled to a single name) as nickname (or cognomen), so before she was freed, she was named Salvia, and her master was named Apollonius before his manumission.
Here's another one:
Q(uintus) Gavius / Q(uinti) l(ibertus) Inventus / v(ivus) f(ecit) sibi et / suis lib(ertis) lib(ertabus)q(ue) / omnibus / posteris(que) eor(um) // in fr(onte) p(edes) XVI in ag(ro) / p(edes) XXXII
"Quintus Gavius Inventus, freedman of Quintus (Gavius) made this during his lifetime for himself and his freedmen and freedwomen and all their descendants / (the burial side extends) in front 16 feet, in the back 32 feet."
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