How likely is a Roman conspiracy to fabricate the entire story of Jesus Christ?

Was reading this story today and musing on the fact that I only just heard about this now (and, at the time of this writing, I expect this is the same for most people) and the fact that I really have no idea about who this scholar is or how good his alleged evidence is.

Some would reject the suggestion out right, of course, from a sense of duty. However, we’re most likely all in the same spot of having no clue whether this guy is off his rocker or on the money.

Even as an atheist, I assume he’s full of sh*t and he sounds like just about any conspiracy theorist I’ve ever heard of… so far. But I could be wrong, who knows.

Here’s the article:
American Bible scholar claims ancient ‘confessions’ prove story of Jesus Christ was entirely fabricated by Roman aristocrats

So, without looking into it much further than this article.. I’m curious, how likely would you think it is that this conspiracy really happened?

Do you imagine this scholar’s message has a chance of really catching on?

What will the future hold if his message (or one like it) was successful in gaining a large following in the western world?