Judge tosses Jan. 6 protester Ray Epps's lawsuit against Fox News

A judge in Delaware has dismissed a lawsuit against Fox News that was brought by an Arizona man at the center of a conspiracy theory about what sparked the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

Ray Epps, a former U.S. Marine, sued Fox last year alleging the network knowingly promoted what his attorneys said were “destructive conspiracy theories” about his involvement in the riot.

Epps was sentenced earlier to a year of probation for his role in insurrection, after admitting to engaging in disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds after storming the Capitol.

Epps had been at the center of a conspiracy theory that he was a federal agent and egged on the violence to paint supporters of former President Trump in a negative light. The theory had been promoted by a number of right-wing media figures in the months that followed the attack, including former Fox host Tucker Carlson.

Epps's case was dismissed a day after Fox notched another win in court when a judge in New York dropped a defamation case against host Jessica Tarlov brought by Tony Bobulinski, a former associate of President Biden's son Hunter Biden.

Fox in a statement Wednesday celebrated the two decisions and a third earlier this summer that it successfully fought against Nina Jankowicz, the former head of the short-lived Department of Homeland Security disinformation board.

“Following the dismissals of the Jankowicz, Bobulinski, and now Epps cases, Fox News is pleased with these back-to-back decisions from federal courts preserving the press freedoms of the First Amendment," the network said.